Holiday In The Living World
by Kristine93
Summary: FINISHED! Matsumoto manages to make her taicho spend a holiday in the living world with her. But this isn't exactly the holiday Hatsugaya has expected... Funny. Hitsugaya x Matsumoto
1. Air Conditioner

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or the characters in it.**

Hatsugaya Toushiro was exhausted, frustrated, irritated and had a terrible throbbing headache. Very bad combination. And one certain person was working hard to make everything even worse…

He shot the phone such a lethal glare, that it was a miracle it didn't explode. Then took a deep breath to calm himself down, closed his eyes and started massaging his throbbing temples in pathetic attempt to ease the pain. _Stupid headache_. He couldn't get rid of it for days… although, considering the circumstances, that fact was not even slightly surprising…

Hitsugaya picked up the brush and scowled at the gigantic pile of paperwork that he had to do... His throbbing head was objecting every time he tried to concentrate on something and the stupid reports somehow seemed to grow more and more, instead of lessen. And all he wanted was to lie down on his fukutaicho's favorite sofa and have a nice relaxing nap… But he couldn't and he wouldn't. He wasn't about to give up so easily, no matter how tempting the thought was. Hitsugaya was going to fight until the very end (though he kind of suspected he was _not _going to win against the pile of paperwork). Or at least he thought so…

…Until ten seconds later the phone rang.

Hitsugaya's grip on the poor brush tightened, threatening to break it in two and he let out a low growl. How could someone… possible… be soooooooooooo… annoying!

He took another deep breath, slowly put the brush back down and reached for the receiver. Ok, he was going to be fine. He just had to relax and calm down. Yeah, he had to relax and calm down…

'TAICHO!' Matsumoto Rangiku shouted enthusiastically from the other side of the line, her loud voice making Hitsugaya pull the receiver away from his ear and rub his now madly throbbing temples with his free hand. _Why does she have to be so noisy?_

'Matsumoto, please…' he begun, but was cut off immediately.

'Taicho, I was just wondering… You work sooo hard these days. Why don't you…'

'No.'

'But you didn't even let me finish!' the fukutaicho objected. Hitsugaya sighed.

'Matsumoto, you called me twelve times during the last hour to ask me on and on the same stupid thing… So, once again – NO'"

'B-but taicho…'

'Goodbye, Matsumoto. Enjoy your holiday.' And he hung up.

_I wonder how much time she needs to dial the number… Hmm… __Three seconds_

_One…_

_Two…_

The phone rang. Hitsugaya absently picked the receiver up and let it fall back down on the rest.

_One…_

_Two…_

And what do you know? It rang again!

Why wouldn't she just leave him alone with his angry pile of endless paperwork? Was it that fun to torture a very annoyed taicho with a terrible headache? What she asked him was definitely something he wasn't able to do. Especially now. He had too much working ahead of him…

Besides, she had taken a holiday and holidays were _not_ for calling your boss. They were to spend time with friends, to rest, to have fun…

But _NO_! For her, when Matsumoto wants, Matsumoto gets. And she really wanted this. So no way she would leave him alone easily._ Arrrrrgggghhhh_! She had been calling him since the day she left for the living world. That made... hm... Three _horrible_ days.

In the beginning she called once on every three or four hours, but as the time passed, the number of calles increased until they reached the insane amount of twelve calls for an hour. On and on she asked him the same idiotic thing, using different tactics. And she knew perfectly well she was driving him crazy. God... He hated her stupid stubbornness...

Right now she wasn't going to stop calling until he answered and his headache was definitely against the loud sound of the phone.

_Why me?_

Hitsugaya sighed…

…Here we go again…

'Stop. Calling. Me!' he hissed through gritted teeth as he picked up the phone.

'Come on, Taicho! Don't be so mean!'

Hitsugaya could almost see her in front of him at that same moment - standing somewhere in the living world, sulking slightly and with one hand on her hip.

'Matsumoto… Why the HELL do you want me in the real world!? Don't you enjoy Orihime's company?'

Silence.

'Well?' he started tapping impatiently on his desk with his fingers.

'But, Taicho… It's... so HOT here…' Matsumoto whined.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened with realization, then he snarled, clenched his fist and punched his desk angrily. He felt like shooting her. Or freezing her. Or shaving her head.

'Taicho, please don't break the desk!' Rangiku pleaded, obviously understanding what was going on in the office by the sound of it.

'DO I LOOK LIKE A FREAKIN' AIR CONDITIONER TO YOU??!' he yelled, his hands shaking from rage.

Because of Hitsugaya, during the summer, the temperature in his office and everywhere in radius of few meters of him was always pleasantly cool. That was the main reason why in hot days people just kept on searching for a way to arrange a meeting with him. The lucky Matsumoto, as his fukutaicho, was very favored, since they worked together. It was the answer of the mystery why she was never late during the summer, nor did she leave before him…

Now back to the conversation…

Matsumoto didn't say anything for a while, then murmured with a hint of embarrassment in her voice:

'…No.'

Hitsugaya opened his mouth to carry on with the yelling but she was faster and continued before he was able to:

'You're way too handsome and short-tempered to be an air-conditioner.' She explained, probably looking very proud of herself at that moment. A vein popped on Hitsugaya's forehead and he squeezed the edge of his desk to keep himself from breaking something. The temperature in the office dropped dangerously low and his breath started to form white clouds.

'I'm gonna keep that in mind.' He hissed, his eyebrow twitching. Matsumoto probably sensed his intention to hung up and throw the phone out of the window, because she begun shouting at him that she would do ANYTHING if he came to the living world.

'Please, taicho…' she begged. He once again imagined her, playing with her hair and nervously biting her lower lip while waiting for his reply.

'Anything?' he asked suspiciously, his annoyance beginning to fade.

'Of course! _Anything_ for my _favorite_ little taicho!' she cheered.

'Even a whole month of paperwork?' he asked again.

Pause. He heard a soft sigh. Somewhere in the living world she was looking at the hot shining sun, her hand above her eyes to cast a shadow on them. She was weighting her options. A month of paperwork, or getting drowned in her own sweat… That was a really hard decision.

'Alright, alright!' Matsumoto reluctantly agreed 'Just… Come, ok?'

Hitsugaya pulled the receiver away from his ear for a moment, musing. He did say it without thinking before, but… may be some time in the real world wouldn't be that bad. He hadn't seen Ichigo and the gang in ages and he didn't remember the last time he had taken a day off… A little holiday couldn't do any harm…

'…Swear?' he asked once again. He just had to make sure.

'Swear.'

'Oookay, then. I'll come.'

'Really? YAY! TAICHO'S COMING!' Matsumoto cheered and he couldn't help it but smile a bit.

* * *

A/N: Okkkaaay, how was that? Is it worth continuing?


	2. Underwear trouble and other disasters

'Oookay, then. I'll come.'

'YAY! TAICHO'S COMING!' Matsumoto cheered and he couldn't help it but smile a bit. 'Oh, OH! And taicho? Could you pick some clothes I forgot?'

'Sure. What did you forget?' Hitsugaya pulled a blank piece of paper and prepared to write down the list of forgotten stuff and where he could find them.

* * *

_She did it on purpose…_

Hitsugaya glared at the door in front of him as if it was about to attack him any minute now and try to eat his head. Surprisingly, it didn't. It just stood there, _very_ innocently and _very_ quietly. The door of his fukutaicho's room…

_I know she did it on purpose… Just because she'll have to do the paperwork for a month…_

Hitsugaya lifted his hand with the spare keys and very slowly and carefully unlocked the door. He pushed it open and then turned around to pick the gigantic suitcase and the long wooden stick he had taken to help him in his mission.

_That woman is pure evil…_

The boy brought the suitcase inside, put it on the unfixed bed near the window and opened it. Most of it was filled with his own stuff, but he had left some space for Matsumoto's clothes as well.

_This place is a mess!_ Hitsugaya decided as he looked around the room. There were clothes everywhere – on the floor, on the bed, on the… chandelier… But the plants looked well-kept and except for the clothes-disaster, it was surprisingly clean. No bottled of sake rolling around the floor, no unwashed glasses and the shock: no old unfinished paperwork… It looked like a pretty normal room for a girl. And it smelled sweet: like flowers and candies. Just like the way Matsumoto smelled.

_Ok… Cupboard. I need to find a cupboard. _The boy remembered, pulling the piece of paper from his pocket and examining the instruction Matsumoto had given him. He looked around and spotted the needed cupboard in the corner of the room.

_Why me…?_

Hitsugaya walked to the cupboard and pulled the drawer.

_Alright… here they are._

The young taicho stepped back with a very uncertain look on his face and suspiciously started poking the pink object in the drawer with the stick. After making sure it wouldn't burst into flames, explode and bury him in confetti and no wild beast would come out of it, he carefully picked it up on the very edge of his wooden 'weapon'.

'Damn you, Matsumoto!' he growled, his narrowed eyes never leaving the swaying pair of pink bikini. With that he ran towards Rangiku's bed as fast as he could, his hand with the stick stretched as far away from him as possible. Hitsugaya let the lady underwear fall into an open envelope on the corner of the suitcase and jumped back immediately, eyeing the pink object with hatred.

_**Hitsugaya… what are you doing?**_ Hyourinmaru's voice rang in the boy's head.

'Gathering flowers. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?' Toushiro growled, walking back to the cupboard and treating a pair of baby-blue bikini the same way.

_**Making a clown out of yourself?**_

'Very funny.' Hitsugaya frowned, letting the second pair of bikini fall into the envelope.

_**Why don't you just pick it up with your own hands?**_

'Yeah, right. There's no way I'm touching _this_! You do know where woman wear bikini, don't you?'

_**You're acting like a child.**_

'After I'm done I'll disinfect the stick _and_ burn it…' Hitsugaya announced glancing at the list of forgotten clothes on his way to the cupboard 'Only one left…'

A pair of pretty lace white bikini was next to sway on the very edge of the wooden stick. Hitsugaya observed them for a few seconds before turning around and beginning to run towards the suitcase. In the process he managed to slip on a purple sock and fall flat on his back. Matsumoto's precious underwear flew in the air and a second or two later landed on the young taicho's face.

Hitsugaya groaned, still too dizzy from the fall to understand what the sweet-scented thing on his eyes was.

_**Are you ok?**_

'Perfect…' Hitsugaya's muffled answer came and he reached to remove the bikini from his face.

'Perfect, huh?' a familiar voice asked. Hitsugaya immediately sat up, looking at the door-sill, where stood a very amused Kyoraku. The taicho's eyes widened with horror and he felt his face fast heat.

_Damn, I forgot to close the door!_

'This is _not_ what it looks like!' Hitsugaya quickly stood up.

'Hm… What can it be that you're doing in Matsumoto's room with Matsumoto's bikini when Matsumoto's on holiday?' Kyoraku chuckled and winked to the boy 'Don't worry, I won't tell Rangiku about this…'

'There's NOTHING to tell!' Hitsugaya shouted.

'Yes, yes, of course there isn't… I've got some REALLY nice pictures, you know…'

'I DON'T WANT ANY PICTURES!'

'Imagination's also good.' Kyoraku agreed 'Alright… Have fun. I'll leave you alone now with… those…' he gave the horrified boy a sly smile 'And close the door next time. Someone not as understanding as me might see what you are doing.'

'I DON'T NEED TO CLOSE THE DOOR BECAUSE I'M DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!' Hitsugaya yelled, but the man had already left. Toushiro growled with irritation then walked to the suitcase and put the white bikini in the envelope.

'Oh, just great. Now he thinks I'm a pervert…' Hitsugaya murmured. Hyourinmaru's hoarse laugh filled his head.

'This is so NOT funny!'

_**Oh, yes, it is! Man, just wait until I tell the others…**_

'Oh, no, you don't! No "weapon-gossips" or I'll throw you into a volcano!'\

* * *

'Boy… I'm frying…' Ikkaku whined as he continued trying to cool himself with a fan. 

'Where's Hitsugaya taicho anyway?' Yumichika questioned, wiping the sweat off of his face with a white piece of cloth.

'Haven't seen him all day long… The true is, I have seen almost nobody.'

'Oh. People are hiding from the damn heat…'

'Exactly. And what are we doing?'

'We're… boiling in our own sweat?'

Before Ikkaku had time to answer, a pleasant wave of cooling air embraced him and he saw the captain of the tenth devision appearing from somewhere behind the tree with a gigantic suitcase.

'HITSUGAYA-TAICHO!' the two shouted in unison as they jumped on their feet and followed the boy.

'It's nice to see you in such ho-… I mean wonderful day.' Ikkaku exclaimed with a grin. Hitsugaya eyed him suspiciously.

'It's good to see you too… I guess.' The boy murmured.

'Why are you carrying this suitcase?' Yumichika asked, smiling sweetly at the taicho.

'I'm going on a holiday in the living world.' Toushiro explained calmly. Those simple words, though, had a surprising effect on the other two. Their eyes became big, round and showed nothing but pure horror. The boy stopped, placed the suitcase on the ground and examined them carefully with a raised eyebrow.

'What's wrong with you two?' the white-haired boy asked.

'NO! You CAN'T go, Hitsugaya taicho!' Ikkaku shouted.

'W-why not?' Toushiro asked, taken aback by the hairless man's reaction.

'Because… Because we NEED you HERE!' Yumichika exclaimed, falling on his knees and grabbing Hitsugaya's cool hand with his own warm one.

'I-I don't see…'

'PLEASE, HITSUGAYA-TAICHO! STAY!' Yumichika pleaded, his eyes beginning to water 'Do you have any idea how bad this sun is for my beautiful skin!'

'WHAT?' Toushiro's own teal eyes widened with realization, before narrowing angrily. He pulled his hand away from Yumichika and was about to start yelling at him, possibly punch him or cause some other physical damage to him, when someone appeared next to Ikkaku with a very curious expression on his face.

'What's going on here?' Ukitake asked, then his eyes landed on Hitsugaya and his suitcase 'What's that suitcase for?'

'HE'S LEAVING!' Yumichika and Ikkaku shouted in unison, pointing accusingly at the very angry young taicho.

'Huh? What? NO!' Ukitake pushed the two away and approached the boy 'You have to stay! I'll make sure you get all the candy you want, just please… STAY WITH US!'

'I don't want your candy! GET LOST! All of you!' Hitsugaya yelled and was planning to pick up his suitcase and leave, when Zaraki with Yachiru appeared out f nowhere, also curious to find out what the noise was all about.

'You want to leave? What for?' Kenpachi asked tilting his head to a side and making his bells toll in the process. Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched.

'On a holiday.' The boy answered through gritted teeth.

'Hitsugaya? On holiday?' Komamura and Kira joined the group, soon followed by Kyouraku and Nanao, the man winking conspiratorially to the very annoyed white-haired boy in the process. Then Hanatarou, Renji and Unohana...

'He can't just LEAVE us…'

'It would be way too egoistic…'

'…Besides 'holiday' and 'Hitsugaya' don't go properly in one sentence…'

'The heat's going to kill us!'

'My beautiful sensitive skin will turn ugly like that Ganju's…'

'Has anyone seen my socks?'

'He wants to kill me or what?'

And they continued discussing the situation that way, not paying even slightest attention to the furious objecting Hitsugaya, but noticing every time he tried to move from his spot.

_That's it!_

'HEY!' Hitsugaya suddenly shouted, all eyes locking on him 'Look, a two-headed panda eats a squirrel!' and he pointed in some direction.

'WHERE???' everybody shouted curiously. They stared at the spot for some time, every each one of them trying to locate the panda.

'I don't see anything, Hitsugaya taicho.' Yumichika said, his eyes shifting back to where the boy had been staying a moment ago. But now, there was nobody. And a moment later the terrible heat hit them…

* * *

Once again, is it worth continuing? And if it is, what do you think, should I leave Hitsugaya short, or make him taller for the next chapters. 


	3. Underwear trouble and other disasters 2

A/N: So, I decided to leave Hitsugaya short, since he's Hitsugaya, after all. It's his trademark AND most of you don't like him talll... so, yeah...

* * *

Matsumoto felt like dieing. She was lying on a couch in Orihime's living-room and fanning herself with a newspaper in a miserable attempt to cool her skin. How could it possibly be _that_ hot? After all, she had just taken a bath that was supposed to make her feel fresh and full of energy…

She groaned. Orihime was somewhere out for few hours, probably with Ichigo and the others so they could fry all together. How cute! Why couldn't she fry together with somebody as well? And where was her sweet little taicho? Where was he, when she needed him so badly?

She shifted a bit to get herself more comfortable and let out a sigh. There was a chance her taicho had changed his mind. Especially since she had told him to get her all those clothes… including the three pair of bikini.

A small smiled appeared one her face as she imagined him glaring at her underwear, unable to think of a way to pick it up without making a direct contact…

_Naaaahh… Taicho is smart. He'll think of something easily… _she decided, shifting again. This couch wasn't as comfortable as the one she slept on in their office in Sereitei. Besides, it smelled otherwise. There wasn't that pleasant scent… of…

She wrinkled her nose, trying to figure out exactly of what that scent was… But constantly only one word came to her mind as a definition…

_…Of winter?_ She blinked, standing up. Scent of winter? What kind of thing was _that_?

She didn't have time to think about it, because someone knocked on the front door. Matsumoto jumped on her feet and hurried to open it. The first thing she noticed when she did so was that the air was suddenly so much pleasantly cooler. And the second, was that in front of her stood a very annoyed Hitsugaya, giving her the _I've-been-through-much-so-now-you'll-suffer_ kind of look.

'Lil taicho angry?' Matsumoto blinked.

'Oh, I think you'll find 'angry' a very weak word for description of my mood right now.' He growled and Matsumoto couldn't help it but gulp as the temperature begun to become too cold for her taste 'I was chased around the whole Sereitei multiple times by… let's see…. _Everybody_. And I barely managed to escape after…'

'OOOH! HITSUGAYA-TAICHO, YOU WENT THROUGH ALL THIS FOR MEEEE! MY LIL HERO!' Matsumoto suddenly screamed enthusiastically and before Hitsugaya had time to object, he was pulled into a suffocating hug, his face stuffed in between two very famous parts of Rangiku's anatomy.

The temperature immediately begun to rise as the boy struggle to break free from the grip.

'Ohh, taicho! You're sooo adorable!' Matsumoto exclaimed, not paying attention to his muffle shouts.

'AFORAFLE! I'M NOFF AFORAFLE! LEF OO OF ME!'

'What was that, taicho?' Matsumoto asked innocently.

'MMAAAFFFUUUOOOFFFOOO, LLLEEEFFF OOO OOFFF MMEEE!!!!' Hitsugaya's muffed yell reached her ears.

'Ah, you mean you want to let you go?' she repeated thoughtfully.

'YEEEEEFFFF!!!!'

'Oh… Ok then.' And with that she unceremoniously dropped him to the ground. Hitsugaya needed some time to catch his breath. His face had become slightly livid thanks to the lack of oxygen in where it had been stuffed…

He knew perfectly well his fukutaicho's fingers were just itching to do it again. She was always looking for a reason to torture him like this… Although it was still a mystery for him why she found him so damn huggable.

'Don't do it… ever again!' he hissed as he stood up, reeling a bit. She grinned in return, holding her hands together behind her back in a childish manner.

'Of course, taicho, everything for you!' Matsumoto agreed, slightly tilting her head to a side.

_Hypocrite. You say this every time._

'Ok, enough of that.' Hitsugaya turned around and picked up his suitcase.

'Is this your luggage?' Matsumoto moved aside so he could bring it into the house 'Did you get my stuff?'

There was silence, then Hitsugaya gave her a very, very, VERY odd kind of look. Almost as if he was hesitating whether to kill her fast and get it over with or to torture her before finally putting an end of her pathetic existence…

'OOOH! So you did!' Matsumoto exclaimed, clapping her hands together 'Gimme another hug, then!'

'NO!' Hitsugaya yelled, jumping back 'Don't come any closer, I've got a suitcase and I know how to use it!'

Matsumoto looked a little disappointed, but stepped back with her hands raised to show him she wasn't about to do anything to him.

'Where do I put this?' he asked after a moment of silence.

* * *

Later…

'You _did_ bring all!' Matsumoto exclaimed, pulling out of the envelope the famous pair of white bikini.

Hitsugaya glared at the underwear from across the room. He was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and waiting for her to finally pick her clothes and get it over with. Rangiku, though, noticed the glare and couldn't help it but smirk.

'What? You don't like them?' she asked blinking innocently.

'No.'

'Not even a slightest bit?'

'No, I don't like them and I never will. Those bikinis are evil.'

'Don't be so crabby, taicho!'

'I'm NOT crabby! I just want you to keep them away from me!' his frown deepened before he added impatiently 'And get your things already!'

'Fine, fine! Don't push me!'

Hitsugaya growled and rolled his eyes.

'I'm going downstairs to get a glass of water.' With that he pushed himself away from the wall and made his way downstairs and into the kitchen.

'I'm not going to survive this holiday…' Hitsugaya murmured, grabbing a random glass from a shelf nearby and filling it with water.

_**You won't survive the next hug, if you ask me… Though, I think's not that bad to be embraced by Rangiku...**_

'Shut up, Hyourinmaru!'

_**Come on, think of all those people who can only dream of being hugged by that woman and having their faces…**_

'I asked you to be quiet!'

_**Correction, you insisted very rudely that I shut up… Now, where was I? Oh, yeah! … And having their faces…**_

'HYOURINMARU! Don't make me toss you into the cooker!'

_**Fine, fine, FINE! You're such a joy-killer...**_

'You're supposed to be loyal and supportive!'

_**What? I AM loyal and supportive! You can't say I'm not loyal! Can you? Of course you can't! And look how supportive I am! I support any part of you that enjoys having its face stuffed in between Matsumoto's…**_

'AHHH! I see the cooker…'

_**Ok, ok! I shut up, I shut up!**_

Meanwhile Matsumoto was neatly stacking her clothes beside the suitcase, when her cell phone rang. She answered it rather absently, her hands still working on the luggage…

'Hello?' she asked, still rummaging about the suitcase.

'_Ranguku, it's Ikkaku_.'

'What's up, Ikkaku?'

'_We know Hitsugaya-taicho's there with you._'

'Really? That's interesting? And?'

_'You forced him on holiday, didn't you?'_

'Um... I just called him several hundred times, I wouldn't call that _forcing_...'

'_We voted here and we…_' Ikkaku hesitated for a moment '_We demand you give us our Hitsugaya-taicho back! He's not born to go on holidays!_'

'No can do.' Matsumoto pulled something from under the pile of her taicho's shirts.

'_What do you mean you can't? There are more of us and we…_'

'OH MY GOD, THIS IS ADORABLE!'

'_Rangiku?_'

'Gotta go, we'll talk about this later. Have a nice day.'

'_But…_'

Too late. She hung up.

'Aren't these just adorable?!' Matsumoto once more exclaimed, lifting the object on her eye-level and spinning around along with it.

'What's going on? What are you squeaking for?' Hitsugaya asked suspiciously as he entered the room 'What's so adorable?' His fukutaicho giggled and turned around to show him what she had found.

'I didn't know you buy stuff like this!' she continued swaying the clothing back and forth 'It's so cute!'

The boy's eyes widened with shock that was soon replaced by anger and embarrassment.

'Give. That. Back!' Hitsugaya demanded, pointing his index finger at her. She bit her lower lip with excitement as she watched his cheeks turn a dark shade of red.

'You're blushing, taicho!'

'No, I'm not! Give it back!' Hitsugaya made a step forward. Matsumoto giggled again and stepped back, shaking her head.

'But they are so cute! I want them for myself!' She announced, observing the pair of light green boxers with small pictures of slices of watermelon all over them 'However, if you insist to have them back, you'll have to come and get them.'

'FINE!' Hitsugaya growled and tried to snatch the boxers from her. Matsumoto, though managed to jump back just in time.

'Too slow.' She chirped, before turning around and running out of the room, with the pair of boxers in her hand. Hitsugaya immediatelly darted after her.

He chased her down the staircase, around the kitchen, around the living-room, around the yard (the passer-bys were giving them odd looks. I wonder why…), up the staircase, around some other rooms… The whole time Matsumoto laughed, while the boy tried his best to get rid of the annoying blush. After few more 'tours' of the house, the young taicho managed to end the chase in the living-room by leaping on top of the coach, jumping on Rangiku's back and bringing her down.

'I… got… you!' he exclaimed triumphantly, straddling her back and snatching the boxers from her 'Don't… you EVER... touch… my stuff… you hear me?' he wiped some sweat off of his eyebrows, while trying to catch his breath 'Stupid… faux body… Get's tired… so easily…'

Matsumoto, who was still giggling, took a deep breath and sat up abruptly, making him fall on the floor. She turned around and before he could stand up, rested her elbow across his chest to keep him down

'Hey… taicho…' she begun, her face only few inches away from his 'Someone ever told you… you're light as feather…' she grinned 'You can't keep me down easily with this weight…'

'Whatever.' He rolled his eyes and tried to push her away 'You can let go of me now.'

'I don't want to.' She tickled his nose with a strand of here hair, making him wrinkle it in a very cute manner and look away 'You're adorable... just like your boxers.'

'First of all, don't compare me to boxers. And second… If you don't let go right now, I swear, tomorrow you'll wake up with an iceberg instead of a head!' he threatened. Matsumoto pouted, gave his nose a last tickle and got off of him.

'You're not fun at all taicho!' she sulked, folding her arms.

'I don't have to be. I'm your taicho.' He murmured, standing up with the boxers in his hand 'Orihime has to be fun… Oh, and by the way, when is she going to get back?'

Matsumoto's eyes suddenly widened and she jumped on her feet.

'I almost forgot! We're having slumber party tonight!' she exclaimed. Hitsugaya blinked.

'Slumber… party?'

* * *

'Rangiku!' Orihime, Rukia and Arisawa Tatsuki exclaimed in unison, when Matsumoto opened the door to let them in.

'Sorry for taking so long!' Orihime exclaimed as she walked in holding few DVDs in her hand 'It took a little longer than we expected to choose the movies.'

'Wow!' Rukia exclaimed, stretching her hands and closing her eyes 'It's so nice and cool in here…'

'Yeah, I took care of that!' Matsumoto announced proudly.

The four walked into the living-room , where, near the window was sitting Hitsugaya and reading a book.

'Who are you?' Tatsuki exclaimed rather harshly before anyone could stop her. Toushiro lifted his head.

'Oh, me?' he almost smiled 'Don't mind me, I'm just an air conditioner.'

* * *

How was that, huh? Is it boring? Please tell me! 


	4. Brothers, bunnies and more

Tatsuki stared at him for a couple of seconds. Hitsugaya just stared back with a very bored expression on his face.

'Is he mocking me?' Tatsuki finally asked, dangerously narrowing her eyes at the boy, who was just calmly returning to his reading.

'No, NO!' Orihime hurried to assure her 'He's a… I mean… uhhhhhh… well… he…'

'Is my baby-brother.' Rukia finished, faking a carefree smile. Hearing this, Hitsugaya choked on his own breath with shock. Matsumoto squeaked and run to him to pat his back.

'He is?' Tatsuki suspiciously raised her eyebrow. She looked up and down at the choking young taicho and put her hands on her hips.

'I see no resemblance.' Arisawa announced, slightly shaking her head 'And why is his hair… white?'

'He… um… he's suffering from a very rare disease.' Rukia explained and at that point Toushiro choked harder. Matsumoto turned towards Kuchiki and mouthed her a very worried _You are killing him!_

'Uh… See?' Rukia pointed at the boy, ignoring Rangiku's warning 'That's what I'm talking about. He coughs like this… therefore he's sick! My poor baby-brother!' with that she ran to him, knelt down and stretched her arms forward, ready to embrace him. Although his face was almost blue from the lack of oxygen, Hitsugaya managed to whisper between the coughs:

'Hug me and I'll wring your neck!'

Kuchiki sweat dropped and stood up.

'He's not in a mood for hugs right now.' She explained to the very unconvinced Tatsuki.

'…Right.' Arisawa murmured.

'Ok, everyone, let's have some fun!' Orihime cheered, grabbing a random movie and putting it into the DVD-player.

'Everyone except for the gloomy wannabe air conditioner kid with the book over there...' Tatsuki corrected, ignoring the low snarl that came from Hitsugaya's direction at her comment.

'I'm not a kid!' Toushiro snapped. Tatsuki waved her hand dismissively.

'Fine, fine, you can be an air conditioner, I don't really care.'

Matsumoto, feeling the temperature drop rather quickly, grabbed Arisawa's arm and pulled her towards the TV.

'Let's just watch the movie, shall we?' Rangiku suggested with a little too wide smile on her lips to be natural.

'Hey, Rangiku, you did buy some chips and popcorn, didn't you?' Rukia questioned, making the fukutaicho freeze.

'Well… about that…' Matsumoto nervously rubbed the back of her head 'It was so hot that… the thought of going to the supermarket… kind of just melted in my head…'

The room went silent as the other three girls stared indignantly at Rangiku.

'Is it that important!?' Matsumoto whined.

'Yes, it is. You promised. NOW GO GET SOME JUNK FOOD!' Tatsuki demanded, pointing at the door.

'But… it's already night…' the fukutaicho glanced at the dark streets through the window 'I don't want to go! Maybe if somebody comes with me…'

'No, nobody will come with you.' Tatsuki firmly said, folding her arms.

'I will.' Hitsugaya suddenly announced, standing up and dusting off his clothes.

'You will!? OH, THANK YOU SO MUCH HITSUGAYA-TAICHO!' Matsumoto cheered, clapping her hands together. Before he could react in any possible way, she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the house. The other girls just stared dumbfounded after them.

'Did she just call the little wannabe air conditioner … 'taicho'?' Tatsuki blinked.

* * *

'Why did you decide to come with me?' Matsumoto asked as they made their way towards the only working supermarket down the dark street. Hitsugaya, who was reading his book while walking, answered without even looking away from the page:

'I don't want some stupid guys to start hitting on you.'

'And you think they won't hit on me now, because…?'

'It's different when there's a man with you.'

Matsumoto looked at him oddly.

'A man? You do realize how you look like, don't you?' she blurred.

This time Hitsugaya stopped and lifted his eyes off the page.

'And what is that supposed to mean?' he snapped. Matsumoto sweatdropped.

_**She's trying to tell you that you look like a little white-haired bunny comparing to her.**_

'Shut up! I don't look like a bunny!' Hitsugaya yelled, making his fukutaicho jump back. He growled slightly, then sighed.

'Hyourinmaru.' He explained as a vein popped on his forehead. Matsumoto couldn't help it but laugh.

'He called you a bunny?' she asked, still smiling. Hitsugaya folded his arms as another pulsing vein popped on his forehead.

'I'm _not _a bunny! I do _not _look like one! See? No fluffy ears, no tail, no carrots, no leaping around! Now shut up and let's move on!'

'I could buy you some carrots… and I think I've got some fake ears and a tail somewhere…' Matsumoto told him as she thoughtfully chucked her chin 'You'll only have to deal with the leaping. What do you think, taicho?'

Silence. Then… Sound of many, many popping veins…

'Uh, taicho? It's kind of cold…'

* * *

At the supermarket…

'That was cruel, you know…' Matsumoto told him, while musing over which packets of chips she should pick. Behind her Hitsugaya just sighed, leaning against the trolley.

'I froze a bush, big deal!' he sulked.

'You froze a garden… not a bush.' Matsumoto corrected him as she put some large yellow packet into the trolley.

'Be thankful. I was thinking over whether the frozen object should be you.' Hitsugaya murmured.

'I didn't know you get so upset over bunnies.' Matsumoto chuckled as she started searching for packages of popcorn.

'Unbelievable!' Toushiro growled, rubbing his eyebrows with annoyance 'First I'm an air conditioner, now a bunny! Is there any justice in this world???'

Matsumoto giggled softly and shook her head. She then walked to him and boldly ruffled his hair, making him snort and try to slap her hand.

'Don't do that!' he warned, while trying to fix his tousled locks. Matsumoto carelessly waved her hand, not really bothered by the death glare he was shooting her.

'Fine, fine.' She looked at the trolley thoughtfully and after a second or two grinned contentedly 'I think that's all, now let's go.'

* * *

The woman on the cash desk eyed Hitsugaya with a smile as he held the purchases while Matsumoto paid.

'Such a nice boy!' the woman exclaimed after giving Rangiku the change 'You're helping your mom, how sweet!'

Big mistake…

Hitsugaya almost dropped the bags…

Matsumoto looked like she had just had a hear-attack…

Everybody else on the queue stepped back…

'WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?' both yelled at the same time, causing everybody in radius of a mile or so to jump a meter into the air.

'Do I look LIKE I'M OLD ENOUGH TO BE A MOTHER?' Rangiku screamed, making the poor woman shriek.

'DO I LOOK LIKE I'M HER SON???' Toushiro added as the temperature into the supermarket dropped.

'I… I opt not to answer both questions.' The woman murmured and before the two could continue shouting at her, announced that she's taking a break and disappeared from their sight.

* * *

'Can you believe it?' Matsumoto murmured indignantly as they walked out of the supermarket 'She actually thought I was your MOTHER? Seriously! Do I look that old!?'

Hitsugaya looked at her over the edges of the bags he was carrying.

'I opt not to answer.' Her eyes widened with fear, but he just smirked and added 'Just kiddin'. You look young _and_ beautiful.'

Matsumoto sighed with relief.

'Thank you. I was just starting to think… HEY! YOU JUST MADE A JOKE!'

'Shut up.' Toushiro murmured with a frown. Matsumoto cracked a smile.

'You did! You did! You diiiiiid!'

'Matsumoto…'

'Taicho, you JOKED! Ha! You just joked!'

'Matsumoto…'

'Can't believe it! But you did try to make fun of me!'

'MATSUMOTO!'

'Yeees, taicho?'

Hitsugaya smirked before saying with a big amount of gloat in his voice:

'A post.'

BAM!

Matsumoto hit the post rather hard, lost balance and fell back. Fortunately Hitsugaya expected that and was there to catch her, before she hit the ground.

'That was cruel…' Rangiku groaned, rubbing her aching forehead 'You should've told me earlier.'

'I tried. And… Besides…' Hitsugaya laughed down at her 'It wouldn't have been that fun if I had told you…'

Matsumoto was about to argue with him, but stopped, realizing what her taicho had just done. Her eyes widened and she let out an excited but very disturbing squeak.

'Taicho… You just laughed!' she sang, grinning at her. Toushiro growled.

'Shut up.'

'No, I won't! You did laugh!'

'Matsumoto…'

'It was so cute! You should do it more often.'

'Matsumoto…'

'Can't believe it! But you really did laugh at me!'

'MATSUMOTO!'

'Yeees, taicho?'

He smirked down at her.

'A ground.' And with that he unceremoniously dropped her on the ground, picked up the bags with the purchases and calmly started walking.

* * *

Ok, so maybe this is stupid... sweatdrop But I'll try to make the next one better. 


	5. Have a nice sleep

Matsumoto's eyes scanned the roof, carefully not to miss a single place. It was a bit hard to find what she was searching for in the dark. Especially considering it wasn't very big, nor very noisy.

'Hey, taicho!' she called softly. She didn't want to attract any unneeded attention. Even if it was four in the morning, that didn't mean she could just walk around Orhime's roof shouting at her captain to show up.

'Taiiiiichoooo!' she tried once more. She then heard a very soft sound coming from behind the chimney and she headed towards it. She found her captain curled at the side of the chimney with his eyes closed. He had obviously been sleeping.

'Taicho, they're all asleep now, you can come downstairs.' Matsumoto whispered as she knelt down in front of her captain, careful not to be too loud. Hitsugaya just sleepily nodded, letting out a low groan of agreement.

'Does that mean you'll come downstairs with me?' she asked carefully. He shifted a bit.

'No…' was the short replay. Matsumoto blinked.

'Come on, taicho, it's your holiday, I'm not leaving you to sleep on the roof this time!' she murmured, pouting a bit.

'Leave me… alone…'

'Are you that asleep not to listen to what your loyal hard-working lieutenant is telling you?' Matsumoto indignantly and a bit too loudly exclaimed. Hitsugaya frowned, his eyes half opening.

'You're everything but hard-working…' he murmured, sending her a lazy glare. She sighed.

'Ok, ok, but I'm not leaving you to sleep here!' she announced firmly.

'Oh, yes, you are…' Hitsugaya let out a soft chuckle, his eyes beginning to close again. Matsumoto giggled slyly and a small smirk appeared on her lips.

'We'll see about that!' she murmured, then slowly slipped one of her hands underneath his knees and wrapped the other around his shoulders. Hitsugaya once more half-opened his eyes to look at her with confusion.

'What are you doing?' he asked. She giggled once more before easily lifting him in her arms.

'You really _are_ light, taicho!' she exclaimed with joy as Hitsugaya glared up at her and demanded to be put down at once. Matsumoto ignored him and started walking across the roof and searching for the easiest way to get back down.

'Ok... Here we go, taicho!' she informed him as she approached the edge of the roof.

'Sometimes I hate you, Matsumoto!' he murmured, still very sleepily as she tightened her grip around him, ready to jump off of the roof 'You know I'm going to cut your brain out, freeze it and put back into your head, don't you?'

'Oh, but of course, taicho!' she chirped 'Now hold on!'

Hitsugaya let out a disgruntled groan and buried his face in her neck. Matsumoto couldn't help it but smile as he did so, before finally jumping. She landed at the doorsteps without any trouble and entered the house as quiet as possible. In seconds she was in her bedroom with her precious baggage in her hands. She walked to the bed and carefully lied him down on the mattress. Hitsugaya couldn't hold back another groan, this time from disappointment, as he was pulled away from the warmth and placed on the cold unfriendly sheet.

'Matsumoto…' he begun as she pulled his shoes off 'Don't you dare…'

'Don't I dare what, taicho?' Rangiku asked as his socks joined the shoes.

'…Undress me…' his voice turned into a whisper as he begun drifting into sleep.

'Of course…' Matsumoto grinned as she got a nod in return. A few seconds later, when she was sure the boy was already deeply asleep, she added '…Not.'

* * *

Hitsugaya woke up and for his big surprise found himself into a bed, not on the roof. He blinked a few times to regain his ability to see when it wasn't dark and sat up. What he noticed next was that:

1.This was Matsumoto's room.

2.This was Matsumoto's bed.

3.The bed smelled like Matsumoto, therefore she had slept in it. And if she had slept in it and he had slept in it…

Hitsugaya blushed and jumped out of the bed… Then he noticed the fourth thing… He was wearing only a pair of boxers…

'MATSUMOTOOOO!' He yelled at the top of his lungs. A few seconds later she appeared at the door, looking at him oddly.

'What is it, taicho?' she asked, while he was trying to cover himself with the sheets.

'What the hell is going on? Where're my clothes????' he shouted, while his eyes madly searched for the clothes in question around the room.

'You don't recall, taicho? I carried you here from the roof last night. You asked me if I could undress you and I, as a loyal hard-working lieutenant did so and then lied next to you and we had a long innocent night-sleep.' She announced. Hitsugaya looked at her suspiciously.

'I don't believe you. I would never tell you to undress me.' He firmly told her, a deep frown appearing on his face. She let out a wearily sigh.

'Fine, fine. You told me NOT to undress you, but I wanted sooo hard to see what boxers you were wearing, so I…'

'Matsumoto!' Hitsugaya blushed and stepped back a bit 'Just… tell me you didn't look at anything else except for the boxers…'

Matsumoto let a wide sly smile spread across her face.

'Maybe I did, maybe I didn't… who knows…' she giggled as she saw his terrified expression, then walked to him, took his hand, pulled the sheets away from him and dragged him out of the room 'Don't worry, nobody's home now. They all went to Ichigo's. So we're going to have fun today. Only me and you! Together! Yay!'

She pulled him into the kitchen and pushed him down on one of the chairs around the table.

'You can get your clothes back as soon as you finish your breakfast!' she told Hitsugaya, placing in front of him a plate with a piece of cake in it. He looked down at the cake with suspicious. His experience told him not to trust Matsumoto's cooking intuition, so he hurried to push away the dish.

'I'm not hungry.' He explained, hoping very much that she'll fall for it. The lady, though didn't. She once more pushed the plate in front of him and handed him a fork.

'Eat it.' She demanded 'Or there will be no clothes for you, taicho!'

Hitsugaya glared at her.

'I don't want to! And don't like you're my mother!'

Matsumoto's expression softened and she sat beside him.

'I know you don't like my way of cooking so I strictly followed the recipe. Honestly! I didn't improvize!' She gave him an encouraging smile 'You didn't eat anything yesterday, so I know you're hungry. Come on… There's nothing wrong with it!'

Hitsugaya looked at the fork with hesitation.

'Are you sure?' he carefully asked. Matsumoto nodded 'Ok, then… I'll give it a try… But I won't eat it if I don't like it, you hear me?'

'Yes, yes, now go ahead.' She impatiently shoved the fork right under his nose. Hitsugaya rolled his eyes, then took it and tried a small… a really, really small piece of the cake.

'Hey…' he swallowed 'This is actually good.' With that he took another bite from the cake.

'That's my taicho!' Masumoto exclaimed proudly as she watched him eating. After he was done she took the empty plate and placed it into the sink.

'So… are you going to tell me where my clothes are?' he carefully asked while she was doing the washing-up. Matsumoto looked at him over her shoulder with a warm smile.

'Of course, taicho!' she chirped 'The suitcase with you clothes is in the basement and the clothes you wore yesterday are in the fridge.'

Hitsugaya just stared at her dumbfounded.

'In the… fridge?' he repeated after a few seconds, earning an eager nod.

'Yes, now get ready, we're going to the movies today!'

* * *

Sorry for not updating for that long, but my teachers have gone crazy! I have very little time recently. More romance in the next chapter. 


	6. The movies

'I'm very sorry for your clothes, taicho…' Matsumoto drawled with a hint of guilt in her voice as they walked down the street together. Hitsugaya shrugged, not really wanting to remember how he had pulled a cold solid lump out of the fridge.

'Just… don't do it again.' He told her, scratching the back of his neck. She grinned, wrapping a hand around his shoulders.

'You ROCK, taicho!' she giggled, making him roll his eyes 'You're so understanding! The best taicho ever!' Matsumoto ruffled his hair playfully, earning a snort in return 'And you know what? I've picked the perfect movie to watch!'

* * *

Hitsugaya wasn't sure whether to laugh or to yell at her. He stared wide-eyed at the name of the movie she wanted to take him to watch and felt like choking. What was she thinking? Taking him to the movies to watch a CARTOON??? Did he look like a child? No, drop that, DID HE ACT LIKE A CHILD! 

_Oh, for crying out loud… She's making fun of me…_

Hitsugaya frowned, catching a glimpse of the bunch of seven-year-old kids that were hopping around there moms, holding tickets for the movie and felt his blood boil.

_God, this is ridicules! I knew I should never agree to come here in the first place… She's treating me like a kid. What's next? Tea parties?_

He let out a low growl.

_Hitsugaya Toushiro, a royal air conditioner and a kid to make fun of. Just great…_

'NOOO, TAICHO! Wait! Where are you going?' Matsumoto screamed as her very angry taicho spun around and started to walk in the exact opposite direction of the cinema. She looked at his back with confusion, then hurried to catch up with him.

'Hey, taicho? Are you mad with me for something?' she asked worriedly as he plopped on the very edge of the nearest bench, his back facing her. She blinked a couple of times, then sat next to him and carefully poked his shoulder.

'What?' he snapped, crossing his arms and refusing to look at her.

'What is it? What did you get all upset about?' she asked raising an eyebrow.

'Nothing.' Came the grumpy reply and when she tried to poke him yet once again, he swat her hand without turning around. Matsumoto winced, retrieving her throbbing limb and shook it a little to get rid of the pain. She looked her taicho up and down, not really knowing what to do, then she stood up and walked in front of him. He made no reaction when she squat and didn't look her in the eyes. His gaze was locked on the ground.

'Taicho?' Matsumoto called once more, trying to meet his jade eyes. She could see the deep frown on his face and his pursed lips and it was bothering her a lot.

'Come on, taicho, what is it?' she insisted, reaching to ruffle his hair but got another swat instead.

'I told you! It's nothing!' Hitsugaya growled.

'Well, it doesn't seem nothing to me.' Matsumoto murmured, looking sadly at her slightly red hand 'Did I do something?'

'No.' he snapped in a way that sounds more like "HELL YES!".

'Tell meeee!'

'I said it was nothing!'

'NOOO! It's not nothing, taichooo! TELL MEEEEE!'

'Shut up!'

'NOOO! TELL MEEEEE!'

And so she continued torturing him with her annoying pleads until he finally couldn't take it any more…

'OH, DAMN YOU, MATSUMOTO! JUST SHUT UP! THIS ISN'T SOMETHING THAT INTERESTING; IT'S JUST THAT EVERYBODY KEEP TREATING ME LIKE AN OBJECT OR A STUPID KID! NO RESPECT EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS AND… AND YOU!' he let out a loud growl before continuing 'WHY DO YOU THINK I'M SOME SORT OF A CHILD THAT NEEDS A CANDY TO SHUT UP AND DO WHAT THE OTHERS TELL HIM TO? WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IT MEANS NOTHING TO ME THAT YOU DRAGGED ME HERE JUST FOR YOUR OWN PLEASURE? WHY DO YOU THINK THAT I DON'T FREAKING CARE IF PEOPLE ASSUME THAT I'M SOME SORT OF A COOLING DEVISE!? WELL, GUESS WHAT! I PREFER PEOPLE TO TREAT ME FOR WHO I AM ANDNOT FOR WHAT I LOOK LIKE!' Hitsugaya paused to take a deep breath, then opened his mouth to continue, but suddenly found himself in Matsumoto's arms. He just stood there still and dumbfounded, not knowing what to do. It wasn't one of those suffocating embraces his fukutaicho usually gave him; this one was gentle and comforting and he was definitely not aware of how to react.

'I'm very sorry if you felt like that…' Rangiku softly said, resting her chin on his shoulder 'I don't think you're an object or anything like that. And I know perfectly well that you are more mature than you look like. Please, don't be angry with me, Toushiro, and don't think I called you here just because I needed a cooling devise. Well, I have to admit that it's way too hot in here, but there's another reason.' She let out and almost imperceptible sigh 'I missed you. It was just a few days, but I still missed you. I don't like it when you're not around. So, please don't go back. Please!' with that she tightened her grip around the small body, making the still stunned boygasp.

'Matsumoto…' he begun, but the rest of the sentence reminded unspoken.

'Am I forgiven?' she asked, pulling back a little to gaze into his jade eyes. Hitsugaya sighed and gave her a small smile.

'Yeah, you're forgiven.' He said, making her let out a loud squeak and a before he knew it, he found himself stuffed in between the very happy Matsumoto's breasts.

_Not again…_

* * *

Later… 

After convincing him that adults watched cartoons too, Matsumoto dragged Hitsugaya into the cinema, they bought two tickets and a minute or so later they found themselves into a crowded cinema hall. Toushiro was shocked to find out that so many people actually came to watch the movie.

It was really hard to get to the seats Matsumoto named, cuz everybody had already sat down. When they finally reached their aim and ploped into them, all exhausted but triumphant, another person popped out of nowhere, saying that this was his seat. Rangiku checked the ticket and let out a guilty 'oops'.

'We are on another row…' she murmured, blushing a bit. Hitsugaya rolled his eyes, then stood up to let the person sit down.

'I'm going to go find myself another seat. You can stay here. This seat is probably free. And if it's not, you'll find a way to keep it.' Hitsugaya told her and was about to start searching for another seat, when Matsumoto suddenly grabbed his sleeve and tugged on it.

'Noo, taicho, the movie is just about to start!' she whined, pulling him towards her. Hitsugaya blinked a few times, not really understanding what she wanted with him.

'Then I should probably hurry, let go.' He carefully said, trying to release his sleeve from her grip. Matsumoto only frowned and tugged it harder.

'Noo, you're going nowhere!' she announced and with a finally powerful tug he found himself in her lap. Hitsugaya blushed and was about to hop off, when she tightly wrapped her arms around his waist to prevent him from doing so.

'You're not seriously suggesting that I sit in your lap the whole time!' his face reddened even more. Matsumoto giggled, placing her chin on his shoulder.

'The film is starting, taicho, where are you about to go after the lights go off?' she asked slyly.

And at that same moment, as if because of her, the lights really did went off. Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

'Fine. But don't complain when your legs go numb!' he warned, earning another giggle.

'Don't worry, captain, I'm definitely not going to complain.' She cooed.

_**Ohhhh, that's an interesting situation! I bet this will wake a **__**friend **__**of yours… if you know what I mean. **_Hitsugaya suddenly heard a voice in his head.

'Shut up! I'm not like that!' Hitsugaya growled lowly, shifting a bit to get more comfortable. Matsumoto gave him an odd look and he mouth her a very annoyed _Hyourinmaru_ and waved a hand dismissively to show her not to pay attention to him.

_**You mean yet, don't you?**_ The dragon sneered, making the boy frown.

'No!'

_**Yeah, yeah, keep denying. It will happen sooner or later… And I bet it will be in the next couple of minutes.**_

'Are you sure we're talking about the same thing?' Hitsugaya asked with growing irritation.

_**Um… Yeah, pretty much… Are we?**_

Hitsugaya sighed and opened his mouth to say something, but the dragon was faster.

_**Which reminds me: Hitsugaya, do you know where babies come from? If you don't, I'll gladly explain to you in details.**_

When he heard that, Hitsugaya's eyes widened and he felt the blood rush into his face. He knew his zanpakuto was nuts, but he had never expected the dragon to ask a question like this. It was just... well, too much!

Toushiro wanted do badly to retort, but he just couldn't think of anything. It seemed that due to all the blood in his cheeks, none was left in his brain and therefore he wasn't capable of thinking properly.

...Then… Hyourinmaru's triumphant voice filled his head:

_**Ha! So you do! Well done kiddo, I'm proud of ya! Did you read it in some book, cuz I don't remember anyone telling you?**_

'Stop it, dammit! This is out of your business!'

_**… Of course there was this one time, when you went to Ukitake's office and forgot me. Come to think of it, maybe you did that on purpose, because you didn't want me there! Oh, yeah! And… and there was something very odd about that meeting… After all you, you came back with a suspiciously little amount of candies…**_

'That was because I gave most of it to Yachiru! Now will you knock it off?'

_**Heeey, what's the problem? You're in a very nice position. The sexiest woman in the world has her… assets pressed against you back. You should be happy. So yeah… what's the problem, again?**_

'You wanna know what the problem is?' the boy asked, his voice full with rage and annoyance.

_**Well, yeah, considering I just asked you.**_

'The problem is that my _sword_ has dirty thoughts about _my fukutaicho_!' Hitsugaya snarled, careful for Matsumoto not to hear that.

_**OHHH! Do I sense jealousy?**_

'What THE HELL's wrong with you, you stupid polar fly!' Hitsugaya indignantly hissed.

_**First of all, I'm not a fly, I'm a gorgeous dragon! And second – there's nothing wrong with me! There's something wrong with you! Are you a man or what if you don't get turned on by a situation like this!**_

'Who says I don! It's just that I'm holding back and YOU are ruining my concentration!' Hitsugaya snapped a little louder than he had to and a few people shushed him. His eyes then widened as he realized what he had just said.

_**Oh… OH!**_

'Damn it!'

_**HAHA! THAT'S MY BOY! You should've just said so at the start! GOD! Just wait until I tell Haineko!**_

Hitsugaya's expression changed into pure horror and he felt the blood leave his face.

'No, DON'T! Hyourinmaru!'

But it was too late. Nobody answered. Hitsugaya felt like panicking. If Hainko told Matsumoto… he was soooo busted…

'Are you ok, taicho?' he heard a gentle whisper in his ear. Hitsugaya sighed.

'Yeah… I'm fine…' he answered and in return she buried her nose into his soft silver locks, letting out a giggle.

Toushiro smiled a bit then shrugged. There was nothing he could do except for enjoy the movie…

* * *

Well, how was that? Huh? _Huh?_ HUH? 


	7. Park

'WHAT DID YOU TELL HER?' Hitsugaya shouted, hanging his sword above a really nasty looking not working and uncleaned fountain, full with green slobbery water.

_**If you just calm down and agree to move away very slowly from this… area, that is certainly dangerous for BOTH of us, I'll consider…**_

'You'll CONSIDER!' Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed as he lowered the sword to the water. The passer-bys glanced oddly at the boy that in their opinion was obviously talking to himself and hurried to walk away. Toushiro ignored them. He was too busy to clear things out.

_**That didn't come out right… I'll… uh…**_

'I. Want. To. Know. What. You. Told. Haineko! NOW!' Hitsugaya hissed through gritted teeth.

_**I… um… er… We spoke about flowers and grass… and cute little bees…**_

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and angrily shook the sword.

'I WAS TALKING ABOUT ME! WHAT DID YOU TELL HER ABOUT ME!' he shouted.

_**Weeeellll... I can't quite remember… **_

'Don't play dumb with me! Speak out or else…' Toushiro let out a low growl and lowered the sword to the green surface of the water so the tip was an inch or two above it.

_**(gulp) A-alright… I'll tell you…**_

'Good choice.' The young captain nodded 'Now talk.'

_**Well, I thought it was for the best, so I…**_

'TAICHOOOO!' a painfully familiar voice screamed somewhere from behind his back. Hitsugaya jumped half a meter in the air and barely managed to keep balance so he wouldn't fall in the fountain. Then he took a deep breath and turned around very slowly to see his energetic fukutaicho running towards him.

'Oh, FINALLY!' Matsumoto exclaimed, stopping in front of him. She fixed her rather messed up hair and spent the next couple of seconds in attempts to catch her breath. Meanwhile Hitsugaya just watched her silently, trying to ignore Hyourinmaru's relieved babbling in his head.

'I found you…' she announced, smiling triumphantly at him 'I was sooo worried… You just suddenly disappeared after the movie… I was looking all over for you… And then, just as I was passing by the park, I heard some people speaking about a white-haired kid that had been talking to himself and I figured out it was you. So I started looking for you in the park. I looked and looked and looked… and just a moment ago I spotted you… molesting your sword… Taicho, why are you molesting Hyourinmaru?' Matsumoto gave him an odd and quite worried look as she bit her lower lip in wonder.

Hitsugaya blinked a couple of times:

'I was… Um… You see, the thing is… that… He annoyed me! Very, very, very much!' the young taicho finally announced, sulking and looking away. Matsumoto raised an eyebrow.

'Oh… What did he tell you to upset you that much?' she asked, putting her hands on her hips and slightly tilting her head to a side.

'That's out of your business.'

'Oh. So it's really serious then.' Matsumoto concluded, nodding with understanding.

_**Oh, she's smart! See, she's perfect for you! She's smart, skilled and totally hot!**_

'Shut up!' Hitsugaya snapped, glaring at Hyourinmaru so hard, that Matsumoto wondered how the weapon didn't just burst into flames right there and then 'WHY must I have a zanpakuto like you!'

_**Do I sense unhappiness?**_

'Hell you do! You're statements are totally unreasonable, inappropriate and disturbing! So stop blurting stuff like that!'

_**No can do. That's who I am. If I stopped talking like that, it wouldn't be me. It would be someone else. And that… would be really sad.**_

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes.

'Touching.' He dryly said.

_**I know! Aren't I some hell of a deep soul!**_

'No.'

_**Bad, Hitsugaya, bad! Being mean to his zanpakuto. Shame on you! **_

Hitsugaya opened his mouth to say something, but Matsumoto, who had had enough of the half-argument she had the honor to hear, managed to cut him off.

'Taicho, what's going on?' she asked, making a step or two towards him with a confused expression on her face 'Why are you that angry at Hyourinmaru?'

Hitsugaya blinked a couple of times and thoughtfully scratched the back of his neck, trying to think of a good reason to tell her. He knew she wasn't about to leave him be until she knew the answer and he really didn't want to get through weeks of torture. On the other hand he couldn't just go and tell her about the conversations he had with Hyourinmaru (especially the one in the cinema). What if she actually didn't know… yet? What if Haineko hadn't told her? He wasn't going to risk and say what was really on his mind. That could be a actual suicide…

'He said…' Hitsugaya begun, but shut his mouth. No good explanation came to his mind…

…And then Hyourinmaru decided to help…

…_**That I'm little annoying workaholic white-haired freaky teen with an inferiority complex that has no idea what he wants or what to do with his wild hormones.**_

'…That I'm little annoying workaholic white-haired freaky teen with an inferiority complex that has no idea what he wants or what to do with his wild hormones.' Hitsugaya repeated without thinking.

Pause.

'What?' Matsumoto asked, looking at Toushiro oddly.

'What?' Toushiro also asked, looking at Hyourinmaru oddly.

_**Bravo! You said it without a single mistake! (applauds)**_

Feeling the sudden drop of the temperature, Matsumoto frowned.

_Great. Now he'll be in bad mood for the rest of the day…_

She removed a loosened strand of hair from her eyes, while thinking of what to do with her taicho. She most certainly didn't want him to be get all grumpy and considering what she had just heard, that was exactly what was going to happen if she didn't do anything about it. She had to think of a way to distract him… with something nice and pleasant… Like… Like…

'Come on, let's go get some ice cream!' Matsumoto cheered and before he could protest, grabbed his arm and started dragging him through the park. Yep, ice cream was perfect. Everybody loved ice cream. Even little crabby taichos…

Before he knew it, Hitsugaya was drawn far away from the green watered fountain and in a minute he was standing on a small square. Matsumoto grinned happily at him, put her hands on his shoulders and surprised him by pushing him down on some bench.

'Wait right here, taicho.' She told him, her wide grin slowly fading to a small warm smile as gazing in his eyes. 'I'll go get some ice cream… Don't move, ok? And don't get angry at anyone, particularly Hyourinmaru… Don't want you to get a headache.'

He nodded, still looking quite confused by her actions, which made his fukutaicho giggle and shake her head. She then leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his forehead.

'I'll be right back.' Matsumoto whispered, then turned around and headed to the ice cream shop that was just across the square. Toushiro blinked a couple of times, his poor mind desperately trying to comprehend the newly received information as he watched her walking away with that slow graceful half-lazy walk of hers. He felt his cheeks slightly heat and redirected his gaze to the oh-so-fascinating ground.

_**Mmm, you liked that, didn't you, Hitsugaya?**_

'Shut up!' the boy snapped, folding his arms in front of his chest. However, no matter how hard he tried, his voice still didn't sound as firm and cold as he wished it to be. That made the ice dragon let out a low chuckle, before murmuring a totally unexpected 'As you wish' and his presence faded away.

Several minutes later Matsumoto came back, holding two cornets of ice cream. However she didn't look happy at all. There was an expression on her face that showed a mix of pretty strong negative emotions: annoyance, boredom, a hint of growing anger and some embarrassment too. And there was a good reason for that, that made Hitsugaya frown. She wasn't alone…

A young man with an oddly shaped dark hair and pretty stupid smile on his face was walking next to her. He was rather muscular and even taller than her, but that didn't stop the young taicho from wishing to just go and kick his ass. He so much hated it when stupid bold men hit on his fukutaicho and acted as if she was some sort of a pretty dolly for one night entertainment. Idiots. They just didn't know when to stop…

* * *

Ok, sorry for not updating for such a long time! Don't hate me! 

I'm feeling guilty, so I'll give you a glimpse of the next chapter:

_'What did you do? What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?' Hitsugaya shouted, a terrified expression on his face (that for once was even paler than his hair). Matsumoto stepped back, sweatdropping._

_'N-nothing... I-I mean... It's not that bad.' she managed to murmur, feeling his eyes burn holes in her body. God, she did it this time... He was so angry, she wasn't sure whether she was going to survive to see the next sunrise._

_'NOT THAT BAD! **NOT THAT BAD**!' Hitsugaya's eyes darkened as he shook from anger 'ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? THIS IS** TERRIBLE**!'_

_'What is all this noise about?' Orihime asked, as she walked inside. The moment she did so though, she regreted it... Her eyes went big and round and she dropped the freshly washed towels._


	8. Of Mr Giant and pink disasters

Hitsugaya didn't spend much time observing the idiot that was hitting on his fukutaicho – it was totally unneeded. He already knew that the guy wasn't going to leave Matsumoto alone easily. For some reason beyond understandable, when a moron hit on some girl and the girl in question said 'no' the moron in question took it as a 'HELL YES!'.

Hitsugaya stood up from the bench and headed towards the two who had stopped few meters away from him, Rangiku still desperately trying to explain to him that she was not interested. Well, not surprisingly, she was failing miserably.

'Hey, you!' Hitsugaya called, capturing the guy's attention 'How about you leave the lady alone?'

_**OH yeah! Go, macho Hitsugaya!**_

Toushiro choose to ignore his zanpakuto and instead concentrated on how to get rid of that guy without causing him too much physical harm. After all, it wasn't the idiot's fault that he was an idiot. Right? Right.

Mr. (Stupid) Giant (that's how we're going to call him), because compared to who Hitsugaya looked like some sort of an annoying polar fly, looked down at the young taicho and raised an amused eyebrow.

'Sod off, kid.' He said with a smirk as he glanced at the prodigy with an obvious lack of interest, before once more turning to Matsumoto 'Is it just me, or did it suddenly become kind of… colder?'

_'Kid'? Did he just…_

_**Oh, yes he did!**_

Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched with annoyance. That, of course, didn't remain unnoticed for his fukutaicho. She sighed and gave him a I'll-handle-it look, while still very patiently trying to politely explain that she was busy to the hitting guy. Toushiro rolled his eyes and folded his arms. If Matsumoto wanted to deal with it all alone, this was going to take quite some time. Guys like this one were mostly irritatigly persistant when it came to beautiful women.

'Hey, kid, I think I told you to get lost!' Mr Giant reminded the young taicho.

Twitch.

'And I think I told you to leave the lady alone?' Hitsugaya replying through clenched teeth, while desperately trying to remain composed. And you know, that isn't exactly the easiest thing to do when the annoying man that was hitting on your lieutenant is constantly calling you 'kid'.

Without paying much attention to the young prodigy's death glare and to the oddly but permanent drop of the temperature, Mr. Giant laughed. It was a very odd and unpleasant wheezy sound, that made Matsumoto grimace and shift uncomfortably. He shook his head condenscendingly and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as he noticed that the strawberry-haired woman's eyes were locked on Toushiro.

'Do you know 'im?' the guy asked, his gaze shifting from Rangiku to Hitsugaya and back.

'Um, yeah, actually I do.' Matsumoto gave him a nervous smile, while trying to step away from him as discreetly as possible.

Mr. Giant frowned. It seemed that his brain was making an unusual and particularly hard operation called by the normal people 'thinking'. After a couple of seconds he managed to make a few impressive links between the events and form a surprisingly sensible, yet rather offending for Hitsugaya, conclusion.

'Oh, I see.' He grinned stupidly 'You're his baby-sitter, aren't ya?'

Twitch. Twitch.

'Hardly.' Came a cold reply from Hitsugaya's direction 'More like I'm baby-sitting her.'

'Really?' was the mocking answer.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.

Matsumoto gulped. Ok, Hitsugaya was no really angry. She could feel it even in the air. Literally. It was probably about ten degrees colder than before. And there was suddenly a rather chilly wind coming from north.

'Look, kid' Mr. Giant begun, blind for the strange atmosphere around the white-haired teen in front of him 'I don' know what your problem is, but if you don' jus' get lost, I won't be responsible for my next actions.'

'What? Are you threatening me?' Hitsugaya asked, a smirk slowly appearing on his lips as he looked at the man up and down 'Well, that's amusing…'

'Amusing?' the guy asked, grimacing 'I'm curious how you find it amusing, shrimp.'

That did it.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitch. Twitch…..

'Uh… taicho?' Matsumoto begun, stepping back and sweatdropping. That tic, so typical for her captain, wasn't promising any good...

'Don't worry. I'll go easy on him.' Hitsugaya promised through gritted teeth and with his eyebrow madly twitching. Which, of course, meant he wasn't going to kill the big guy.

Before Mr. Giant had the time to ask why she was addressing the shrimp that way, the shrimp in question had kicked him in the guts. Hard. The guy growled a very expected 'Why you lil…' before making a pathetic attempt to punch Hitsugaya. The prodigy simply caught the fist in the process, twisted his opponent's hand painfully and punched him in the face. The bigger guy fell back hard, but after a moment of lying on the pavement somehow managed to stand up and, rather clumsyly, attacked Toushiro, only to get another kick in the stomach and then kicked off his feet.

'I think I'm done here.' Hitsugaya announced, looking down at the moaning pile on the ground, formerly known as Mr. Giant. God, that guy had really done it. Calling him 'kid' and then 'shrimp'... But mostly, not leaving alone his fukutaicho. That was a simply unforgivable sin in Toushiro's eyes. Hitsugaya just hated persistant, yet totally stupid suitors - they annoyed him more than a pile of destroyed by Matsumoto paperwork. So, when he had the chance, the young taicho usually made sure they didn't hit on Rangiku... ever again.

As he stared at the moron on the pavement, the progidy couldn't hold back a small triumphant smile. _No more hitting for you, big guy_. Hitsugaya nodded to himself, before turning around.

'Let's go, Matsumoto.'

The woman gave her former suitor a last sympathetic look, before running after her already walking away taicho.

'Here's your ice-cream.' She chirped, handing him his cornet somehow solemnly as they headed to the exit of the park and towards Orihime's house 'It didn't melt, cuz luckily, the weather was rather cool.' She winked to him and giggled. Hitsugaya nodded for a 'thanks' before taking the cornet and beginning to lick his ice-cream. Tasting her own dessert, Matsumoto gazed at him thoughtfully. Hitsugaya was didn't pay her much attention, so he didn't notice how after a minute or so an evil smirk formed on her lips.

'Oh! And taicho?' she suddenly wrapped an arm around his shoulders and before he could protest, gave him a big wet kiss on the cheek 'Thanks for being my lil hero today.'

Hitsugaya's widened eyes quickly returned to their normal size, before he looked away in a rather pathetic attempt to hide his blush.

'Don't thank me. That idiot was freakin' moron. And annoying too.' He murmured, making her giggle.

_**Wow! Two kisses in one day! Way the go, Hitsugaya! We'll go get you some nice condoms one of these days…**_

'HYOURINMARU!' Hitsugaya shouted, his face becoming even redder and seconds later he was shouting at his zanpakuto about manners and respect and how people and dragons should know when to stay silent.

In the meanwhile Matsumoto was watching him and smiling.

'So… Haineko' she begun, her smile now looking more like a smirk 'He has a crush on me, you say… This holiday may be more interesting than I thought...'

* * *

The next morning: 

Matsumoto pulled the dress out of the wardrobe and examined it carefully. It was a beautiful full white dress with shoulder-straps and low neckline to highlight her… ahem, assets. Perfect for her taste and yet, she didn't like it that much. The color was bothering her. White? White wasn't her color. At least right now she thought that way. Pink was so much better than white.

She carefully placed the dress on the nearest chair and stepped back. Looking at it up and down she nodded to herself. She fumbled in her pockets and after a moment pulled out a piece of paper. She looked at it carefully, then once again nodded.

'Ok, I hope this works.' She murmured and raised her hand. A friend shinigami had told her about a technique she had discovered. By using a tiny amount of reiatsu she could change the color of a clothing temporally. And so now it was time for Matsumoto to try the spell and see if it really worked.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Slowly, her hand begun to glow in a very pale pink color. She took a deep breath and murmured a couple of words, the glow constantly becoming brighter. And then…

… The door suddenly burst open. Startled, Matsumoto jumped and the bright ray that was, at that same moment, released from her hand, hit not the dress, but the mirror on the desk behind it. The ray reflected from the smooth surface and her new direction was, unluckily, the door. The next thing Matsumoto heard was a small yell and then a thud. She turned around, only to find her taicho lying on the ground, his legs in the room and the rest of him in the corridor. She paled. Not good. Not good at all.

Rangiku very carefully made a step or two towards him, hoping that she hadn't harmed him too badly.

'T-taicho?' she asked worriedly. She couldn't have done something… too bad to him. Could she?

A second later she heard a low moan and Hitsugaya shifted. Matsumoto let out a relieved sigh. He was alive.

The prodigy moaned once more, then placed his hand on his forehead and carefully sat up.

'Oh, God… What the hell was that?' he murmured, rubbing his forehead as he stood up, still a bit dizzy from the unexpected hit. He removed the hand from his forehead and was about to say something, when he noticed the horrified expression on Matsumoto's face. She was pale as a ghost, her mouth opened and her eyes wide.

'Uh… Matsumoto? Matsumotooo? Do you copy?'

Hitsugaya looked at her oddly, then slowly begun to freak out himself. What the hell…?

_**Oh... my… God… Hitsugaya, you better look in the mirror… Fuck, she's in big trouble now…**_

Hitsugaya hurried to the nearest mirror, not knowing what was going on and, of course, expecting the worst... so... he really got it.

Silence.

'MATSUMOTOOOOOOO!'

It seemed like the whole city heard him and the house shook from his yell. _Oops_. Matsumoto winced and slowly started to step back to increase the distance between them. Hitsugaya looked like he was going to faint. He was staring at the mirror in shock, disbelieve, horror and something that was soon about to turn into destructive rage.

'What did you do? What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?' Hitsugaya shouted, a terrified expression on his face.

'N-nothing... I-I mean... It's not that bad.' she managed to murmur, feeling his eyes burn holes in her body. God, she did it this time... He was so angry, she wasn't sure whether she was going to survive to see the next sunrise. The temperature in the room dropped so much that her breath started to come out in small white clouds. She bit her lower lip and her face twisted in a grimace that clearly said _Fuck, he's furious…_

'NOT THAT BAD! **NOT THAT BAD**!' Hitsugaya's eyes darkened as he shook from anger 'ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? THIS IS** TERRIBLE**!'

'What is all this noise about?' Orihime asked, as she walked inside. The moment she did so though, she regreted it... Her eyes went big and round and she dropped the freshly washed towels she was carrying.

In front of her there stood a very furious Hitsugaya… with pink hair.

* * *

Ok, sorry again, for yet again updating late. 

But! ... I was in Tukey (yeah, the country) for the last few days. So... I didn't have a computer there. And I was too busy with Istanbul too. XD

Anyway, in my country is 00.27 , the 4th of January, so... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Yay! You may congratulate me in your reviews, but not before talling me your opinion of the chapter. Hope I didn't disappoint you with what Matsumoto did... T.T

Oh, and this is my first story with more than 100 reviews. So, guys... thank you.


	9. Hair gone mad

Ok, he was mad. He was shaking from rage. It was freezing in the room. He was pale as a ghost. Therefore Rangiku was sooo dead.

There was silence for awhile, since Hitsugaya needed time to comprehend what was going on and make sure it was true. He was running slender white fingers through his soft locks, pulling at the single strand that was hanging before his forehead, ruffling, poking, sleeking, then once again from the beginning… The fukutaicho just stared, too afraid to move, for he might notice her and at the same time not wanting to stay there because she knew that sooner or later he'll be back to his senses and will be ready to kill people, starting with her…

He took a sharp breath in, then closed his eyes in a pathetic attempt to calm himself but only succeeded in releasing a generous amount of reiatsu, then turned to Rangiku. She intuitively stepped back, not liking the look that had fallen across his face even the slightest bit. The tightly pursed lips, the extremely deep frown, the burning gaze… he was like an angry wounded bull. And she was the poor little trembling toreador in front of the terrifying feral beast.

'MatsuMOTOOOO!' he yelled, making the whole house shake and the woman in question shrink to the sizes of a mouse.

'C-can I be of any use, t-taicho?' Rangiku smiled politely, though her eyes drifted for a second at the door before once again settling at his gorgeous, yet at that same moment terrifying jade orbs. There was a short pause during which Hitsugaya tried really, really hard to chill out, but considering it was already chilly enough in the room and he was still like a volcano, ready to explode, the chances were simply slim to none.

'What. Did. You. Do. To. Me?' he asked, his words coming out like a dangerous hiss as he grabbed a handful of his now baby-pink locks and clenched his fist, which, in Matsumoto's opinion must've been painful.

'W-well… I… uh…'

'Can. You. FIX IT!' Hitsugaya let go of his hair, folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. She could see how the fingernails of his left hand dug into his other hand in what seemed to be deadly impatience.

'Oh… err… You see…' she looked down nervously and started poking her index fingers' tips together 'It should… well, if it nothing goes wrong (the spell was made for clothes, not hair) then… um… you should be alright by… tomorrow? Yes, tomorrow.'

Pause.

A throbbing vain popped on Hitsugaya's temple.

'Are you telling me…' he begun through tightly clenched teeth 'That there's a friggin' chance that I stay pink-headed… forever?' he asked, trying his best to resist the urge to get a big and think stick and start chasing her around the house.

Matsumoto broke into cold sweat as a cheesy grin formed on her lips and she tried as unnoticeable as possible to move towards the door. Unfortunately Hitsugaya's eyes were occupied with the only task to follow her every move and as soon as she made the poor pathetic attempt, his glare hardened and he snapped:

'Where do you think you're going?'

Matsumoto gulped and then opened her mouth to reply, but at that same moment, her cell phone rang.

_Oh, yes! Phone to the rescue! _

She mentally thanked God and pulled the thing out of her pocket.

'Hello?'

'_Matsumoto, we demand you give us back our Hitsugaya-taicho!_' the painful familiar voice from the other side exclaimed solemnly, making her roll her eyes and let out an exhausted sigh.

'You again…' she murmured without any enthusiasm, sending a rather apologizing look in Hitsugaya's direction, since she knew well enough he could hear every single word she and the bald guy on the other side of the line said 'Ikkaku, I think we already talked about this…'

'_We have rights over Hitsugaya-taicho as much as you do! You had him long enough, now give 'im back!_'

Hitsugaya's eyes slightly widened as he heard that, before narrowing dangerously.

Seeing that, Rangiku sweatdropped and cleared her throat, while thinking of a way to make Ikkaku shut up and stop irritating the already enraged Toushiro.

'Uh, I think we should talk about this some other time… I'm having some problems here right now…' she said as quietly as possible, hoping that he'll get the message and give up. BUT NO!

'_Well, he is! Be fair! Matsumoto, what you do is mean! Do you realize in what sort of grave danger we are in here? Do you want to get back and find a pile of fried shinigami instead of your friends?_'

'Ikkaku!' Matsumoto hissed, already scared for the baldy's life because of the expression that had appeared on the silver-haired captain's face. If Madarame didn't shut up he was going to learn the true meaning of _grave danger _and she very much doubt he was going to enjoy the lesson… 'My taicho is NOT anyone's property…'

'_You just said '__MY__ taicho'_!' he answered triumphantly, making her swap her forehead and sigh. Usually she would've found this conversation rather amusing, but her current state wasn't allowing her to feel too merry…

'Let's talk later…' she murmured tiredly.

'_Matsumoto… I'm warning you! If you don't give him back…_'

'Bye, Madarame!'

'…_We'll use our special secret weapon!_'

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow and was about to say something when another voice from behind Ikkaku asked.

'_**Do we have that?**_'

'_Of course we do!_' the bald guy snapped and Matsumoto giggled, imagining him at that same moment, flushing and sweatdropping at the same time while glaring at Yumichika.

'Oh, I see…' Raqngiku let an amused smile grace her face 'So what is this secret weapon?'

'_It won't be secret if we tell you. But we're going to use it if you don't do what we asked you to!_'

'Ok. Use it. Bye, Ikkaku!' Matsumoto cheered before hanging up without paying attention to Madarame's yells to wait. She put the cell phone back into her pocket and when she once more looked at her taicho, she found him not where she expected (a meter away from her) but at the place where she had been standing when she had made the spell.

'Taicho, what are you…'

Her eyes widened as she saw what he was holding – it was the piece of paper with the spell written on it. Hitsugaya's lips curved into a devilish smirk as he raised his hand. Matsumoto paled like a ghost and let out a loud and very high-pitched squeak that surprizingly didn't make anything made of glass in the house crack.

'NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO! TAICHOOOO, DON'T!' she cried out and tried to run to the door, but tripped over her own feet and fell hard on the floor. Toushiro used the moment and with a creepy satisfied grin and vindictive spark in his eyes chanted the words…

* * *

Few minutes later.

'AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! OOOOOHHHH MYYYYYY GOOOOOD! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!'

'It's not that bad…' Orihime said in a brave attempt to sound frank and comforting, as she patted her friend on the shoulder. Matsumoto's eyes were big and round as she stared with terrified expression on her face at the mirror in front of her. She grabbed her throat and for a moment it seemed as if she was going to suffocate, but then she took a deep breath and:

'AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!'

'It's ok, it's ok, it's just a little… well…' Orihime grimaced and for the lack of better word finished lamely '… extraordinary…'

'NOOOOOOOOO!' Matsumoto fell to her knees, her fingers digging into her soft locks, that now had a color that resembled astonishingly much the one of a marsh. Behind her, sitting on the bed and with a packet of chips in his hands, was a much calmer Hitsugaya. He was chewing silently, while watching his lieutenant suffer in what seemed to be horrible beauty-despair. For the past few minutes he had been like that - all composed and quite as if nothing of this had anything to do with him. But as the squeals became impossible high-pitched and loud, he was forsed to do/say something for the sake of his almost bleeding ears.

'Oh, come off it already!' Hitsugaya murmured, rolling his eyes 'Greenish hair. Big deal. Mine is pink. PINK, DAMN IT, PINK! But do I scream my head off? No!'

'I would prefer pink hair instead of THIS! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! I HAVE KIWIWISH HAIR! LIKE A KIWI! I DON"T LIKE IT! I'M NOT A KIWI! NO, NO, I'M CERTAINLY NOT! OHHHHH, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THIS!'

'Because you did it, too!' Hitsugaya snapped, shoving his hand into the packet of chips 'You look like a kiwi, big deal. Now, _I,_ LOOK LIKE A FRIGGIN' FLAMINGO!'

'And I'm a fruit! I'm fruit-headed! AAARRRGH!'

'Shut up and calm down like me.'

'You haven't calmed down completely.'

'Have too! Look at me - do I look even slightly uncalm?'

'You're eating junk food!'

'So?'

'You don't EAT junk food! Only ice-cream! You don't eat anything except of milk tea and vegetables and fruits and healthy stuff!'

'So not true.'

'Is too! You drink milk and then eat vegetables and then drink milk and then eat vegetables and then eat some more vegetables and then drink some tea and so on until you start feeling vegetablish and remember to eat some fruits and then you start eating vegetables again and then you return to the milk and then it's time for tea and…!'

She didn't have the chance to continue her mumbling he had clapped his cold palm on her mouth to prevent her from doing so:

'I think I got your point.' He said and when he saw she had calmed down, slowly removed his hand. Matsumoto took a deep breath and then the two of them sat on the bed with the big packet of chips and started eating.

'It's going to go away tomorrow, isn't it?' Toushiro blew away the pink lock that was hanging before his forehead. Rangiku nodded.

'Of course it will. It should. It must. It will.' She stuffed her mouth with chips.

'Besides, nobody will see us, it will be no problem.' The juvenile captain added. The two of them exchanged what seem to be encouraging looks, then sighed and once more concentrated on the chips. It was silent for a while – all that could be heard was the sound of chewing and the crunching of the food that was being eaten. While the two were comforting each other by means of fryed potatoes, Orhime was standing leaning against the door-frame, staring at them with a sympathetic expression on her face. Running a hand through her hair she pushed away from her support and made her way towards them.

'Um, guys?' she begun, looking somehow guilty 'I need to… uh… tell you that… um, Ichigo and the gang are going to drop in this evening to see you…'

Pause.

'WHAT?' Hitsugaya and Matsumoto shouted in horrified unison and the girl in front of them winced.

'Yeah, well… they are…' she murmured rather guiltily.

'No, call them! Tell them we can't! Tell them we're sick or something… dunno! Just… that we can't show up!' Rangiku exclaimed, grabbing the packet of chips from her taicho's hands and clutching it to her massive chest as if it was some sort of a shield.

'I can't.' Orihime mumbled 'Cuz they are on their way here at the moment…'

The two shinigami didn't have much time to panic, since the faith seemed to be playing dirty little games with them and at that same moment someone rang the doorbell.

'Tell them we just got sick!' Hitsugaya said the house's owner and his subordinated nodded in agreement, while clutching the packet even tighter to her chest.

'If I say that, they'll come here to see you.' Orihime pointed out.

_RIIIIIIINNNNNNGG!_

'She's right.' Matsumoto realized, biting her lower lip. We have to think of something else…'

* * *

Ok, so this is how the 9th chapter ends. Uh huh... I know I should've updated sooner, but... I had three exams this week. T.T Can you believe it? I was up to my eyes in homework. But I did update, right? So review, please! 


	10. OF Headcloths and more

'HIIIIIII!' Orihime cheered as she opened the door widely and greeted Ichigo, Rukia and Ishida with a giant grin on her face that could definitely be considered the perfect one for a tooth paste advertisement.

'Oh, hi there, are you alright? There were some strange noises coming from the house…' Ichigo pointed out, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

'Not to mention Hitsugaya-taicho's reiatsu is leaking all over the place.' Rukia commented as well, a small amused smile on her lips, since, as it seemed to be, she suspected with great correctness what the sources of the noises were…

Orihime sweatdropped and opened her moth to reply, but was cut off by a loud indignant shout coming from upstairs.

'_I'm SO not wearing this, Matsumoto!!!'_

_'Huh? Why not?' _another voice asked with confusion _'It's adorable and will do the job just fine. Good thing 'Hime had two of those… Now why don't you put on yours and we go downstairs?'_

_'I don't like it… Look at the color, DAMMIT! It's sooo… Uh… childish... and... girlish... ' _Pause _'Give me the dinosaurs.'_

_'Nope, the dinosaurs are for me! They go with my hair and the one I gave you, go with yours.'_

_'I don't care! Give. Me. THE DINOSAURS!'_

Ichigo blinked a couple of times, then looked at Orihime oddly.

'What's with all the yelling?' he asked.

'Ah, that?' she laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck 'Oh, that's just the wind.'

Silence…

Group sweatdropping.

Orihime sighed, then stepped aside from the doorway:

'Uhhh… why don't you guys come in?' she said awkwardly and just as they did so, annoyed footsteps rang through the hall upstairs, before the leaders of the tenth division showed up: the cheerful Matsumoto, wearing a white head-cloth with green dinosaurs' heads all over it that covered every single hair on her head and Hitsugaya – the gloominess itself, his soft locks all hidden underneath a light-pink head-cloth, covered with brightly smiling hears.

Odd and very disturbing silence fell upon the room. The first to speak, and to speak with obvious difficulty due to the extremely absurd look of the captain and his lieutenant, was Ichigo The Valiant.

'Hey, there…, Toushiro?' he murmured the last part as a question. The silver-haired teen simply rolled his eyes and folded his arms in front of his chest.

'It's _Hitsugaya-taicho_ for you, Kurosaki!'

Unaffected by the snap, Ichigo shrugged and simply continued staring at the two with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape:

'What's with the head-cloths?' Rukia asked, still blinking repeatedly to make sure the smiling hearts on top of the glaring Hitsugaya's head were actually real and she wasn't having a really freaky dream that could as well make her visit a psychiatrist.

'OUT OF YOUR BUSINESS!' Hitsugaya bellowed, his usual frown deepening dangerously and making the newcomers visibly shrink.

'NEW FASHION IN SOUL SOCIETY!' Matsumoto chirped at the same time. Her captain's yell was immediatelly forgotten as Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia redirected their, now totally and hopelessly confused gazes towards the grinning beauty. She didn't pay any attention to how little trust-worthiness there was in her words - in her opinion fasion could be mad and therefore it fit as a perfect reason about the head-cloths. So, next thing she did to make everybody believe her was... well, offer them to join the club of funky accessories. She stepped in front of Rukia and mercilessly poined her index finger at her, making the poor black-haired girl swallow hard.

'You know,' Rangiku begun, looking like a very sly tradeswoman 'We might go find a head-cloth for you, too! How about… an orange head-cloth with plates with spaghetti all over it! It would look AWESOME on you!'

Rukia laughed nervously, stepping back from the lieutenant.

'No, thank you.' She mumbled.

'Ah! Then blue with dancing pigs?'

'Uh… no.'

'Grey with purple bears?'

'Nope.'

'Brown with microwaves?'

'Nah huh.'

'Green with chicken fried legs? Red with Indians? Yellow with pencils?'

'…no.'

'Geez, you are fastidious…' Rangiku murmured with a hint of hurt in her voice as she sighed and looked at Ishida with pleading eyes. The Quincy visually jumped a bit, realizing what she was planning to do:

'What about you?' she asked, smiling slyly at him 'Would _you_ like a yellow head-cloth with pencils? It'll look terrific on you!'

Hitsugaya sighed, then unfolded his arms and lazily tugged on Rangiku's sleeve.

'Leave them be, Matsumoto, if you want to develop the head-cloth industry, don't start with any of them, please? Look at their heads, the shapes are terrible! Ishida's is almost square for God's sake!'

Ignoring the Quincy's indignant shout, Toushiro started to make his way to the living-room, followed by Matsumoto, who was surprisingly lost in thoughts about the shape of people's heads.

Since it was already about dinner time, they took the quick decision to order something to eat and after a very short discussion they all agreed that some pizza would do the thing. Some arguing about the exact order and a phone call later, the group found themselves sitting in Orihime's living-room with no idea of what to do next. The boredom quickly led to the thought of watching TV or playing a game and the girls without much hesitation choose the second option. To be completely exact – the almighty and original game of Truth Or Dare (**A/N: Truth or dare is just classic, guys, couldn't resist**.). Matsumoto was extremely excited, more then the rest of the group, because she could see like… umpteen opportunities to tease her taicho. Before she knew it a large cheesy grin formed on her lips. Oh, she was going to have so much fun! She was going to hug and hug and hug taicho! And then she was going to ask him everything she wanted, like…

'I'm not playing.' Hitsugaya announced rather plainly, at the same time shattering his lieutenant's huggable dreams into thousands of disappointed pieces.

'WHAT? WHY!???' she exclaimed, suddenly grabbing his sleeve and tugging on it with such violent desperation that could've easily tear the material if Toushiro hadn't removed her hand.

'_Because_, I'm not in the mood of doing stupid things or talking about my personal life. Period.' The captain explained, backing off of Matsumoto, who was trying to seize him yet once again.

'Oh, don't be like that, Toushiro!' Ichigo said, making the silver-hair teen glare at him.

'It's _Hitsugaya-taicho_!' the owner of the name hissed, but while he did that, Rangiku managed to catch him and drag him into her lap.

'Don't be all gloomy, taichooo!' Matsumoto whined, digging her nose into his neck and causing a small blush to appear on her captain's face.

'What's wrong with you? I just don't wanna play, ok?' Hitsugaya exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, before crossing them in front of his chest. He didn't even bother struggling against his fukutaicho – he knew it was no use. No one hugged as tightly as Matsumoto Rangiku did… unfortunately…

'You're taking things too seriously.' Ishida pointed out and pushed his glasses up his nose a bit.

'Look who's talking…' Hitsugaya snorted, looking away from the pencil-man.

'Oh, come on!' Rukia exclaimed, waving her hand dismissively and added (much to Hitsugaya's annoyance) 'Chill out, lil bro! Let's have some fun!'

Silence.

'What. Did. You. Just. Call me?' Toushiro hissed through tightly clenched teeth. Rukia sweatdropped, pulling back a bit. Everybody in the room were staring at Kuchiki dumbfounded, except for the tenth division's captain, who was simply glaring.

'I-I didn't mean it…' Rukia murmured, sweatdroping more 'It's just that… uh… ya know, Tatsuki keeps on babbling about… uh… errr… my little brother… She's like… Ummmmmmm… '_Hey, Rukia, are you sure he's not taking drugs_?''

'Oh God…' Hitsugaya murmured, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.

'… Oh! And '_He looks like he never saw sun in his life. Like a little imbecile vampire, you know?_''

Hitsugaya's eyes snapped up, wide with horror and disbelieve.

'And… '_You should make him eat more. He's so skinny. And that hair color of his? Are you suuuure he's not taking part in some sect??_'…'

'WHAT?' Hitsugaya exclaimed, his mouth now opened so widely, that a bowling ball could easily fit inside.

'Oh! She also said '_Maybe you should pay more attention to him. He looks like he hasn't got much time left…_'…'

'…What did I do to deserve that?' Hitsugaya whispered, while everybody around him were choking from soundless laughter. Except for Matsumoto. She was friendlily patting his back like a good loyal fukutaicho. Good for her...

... Bad for Toushiro.

'She's really worried about you, you know?' Rukia continued, once again much to Hitsugaya'a annoyance 'She keeps mentioning you. _'Your borther this… Your brother that… Does he even visit school? He looks pretty old for kindergarten.'_…'

'I sure as hell am…' Toushiro murmured, his eyebrow twitching madly. At that point he was already ready to kill. Everybody knew it and had backed off, except for Rukia, who was too scared to move. It wasn't hard to guess, really, what the youngster was feeling at that moment. If the lethal glare wasn't enough than the sight of the orange juice that had turned into ice cubes with the shape of the glasses was…

'Oh, don't get mad, taicho!' Matsumoto exclaimed out of the blue, her hand suddenly landing on his thigh. The boy visibly jumped before stiffening, his expression of pure shock and embarrassment as she casually started patting his leg and cooing soothing things in his ear. The temperature quickly begun to raise again, completely parallel to the temperature of the captain's face.

'I-I… M-Matsumoto?' he stuttered, swallowing with some difficulty 'W-would you be so kind..?'

Rangiku blinked with confusion, leaning forward a bit to look him in the eye.

'What's wrong, taicho?' she asked innocently. Hitsugaya didn't answer, just stiffened even more than before.

'Taicho?' the fukutaicho tried again, this time poking his shoulder a bit, her other hand peacefully resting on his thigh. The young captain gulped yet once again, trying to ignore the odd looks everybody was giving him.

More silence.

And more...

'I-I'll be right back…' Hitsugaya suddenly said, unable to stand it anymore, then pulled away from her and stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. He didn't look back, so he couldn't see the small evil smirk that had formed on his fukutaicho's beautiful rose lips. Rangiku let out an almost imperceptible giggle, then smiled brightly at the others and clapped her hands together.

'So…' she started 'Shall we begin the game?'

* * *

**Undated at last! YAY! Tell me what you think!**


	11. Truth Or Dare Part 1

'AHHAAA!' Matsumoto cheered at the top of her very squeaky lungs as she realized with great and fast growing pleasure that she had just won the privilege to start the game by pulling the right piece of paper from the little pile on the floor. And being the cunning little cat she was, she knew exactly what to do to get a nice show. Her shinny grin turned into a sly smirk as her blue eyes landed on Ichigo. Thick lashes lowered gloatingly and she sing-songed:

'Truth or dare, Ichigo?'

There was a short pause while the teen in question scratched the orange mop of hair and mused over his decision. Getting a weird question or risking to be forced to dance 'I'm a little teapot'? Weird question or teapot? Hmmm… That was a tough decision to make!

_Choose dare! Only cowards choose truth! Be a man, Ichigo! Be a man and sing 'I'm a little teapot'!_

What was so manly about dancing that?

Oh, well. Inner voices were mainly right.

Right?

Right.

Besides - it wasn't necessary to get such a dare. It could be something… not so humiliating. Who knew what Matsumoto had in mind!

'So?' Rangiku asked impatiently. In return, Ichigo smirked and with a determined face, choose dare.

'He's doomed…' Orihime sighed, softly enough so only she and Rukia could hear it. And she was right. Painfully right. Matsumoto's sadistic side had taken over and that could only mean one thing – the strawberry shall suffer!

'Wow! How brave!' Matsumoto commented, before clapping her hands together and adding extremely happy 'Now lick the chandelier!'

There was silence after that. Ichigo just stared stupidly at her along with the others. Matsumoto didn't mind, though. She just patiently waited for him to comprehend what she was asking him to do, smiling the whole time. There were so many stupid people in the world, it wasn't _their_ fault they were like this, so she had to be really nice and completely understanding to those poor dummies.

'You're not serious, are you?' Kurosaki finally asked, but the lieutenant calmly shook her head.

'I'm perfectly serious.' she announced, supporting the statement with a nod of her head 'And one more thing – I want you to do it, not using a chair to reach the chandelier, but sitting on Ishida's shoulders. Uh huh. No chair. Just Mr. Pencil. YAY! Oh, this is going to be fun! Go, guys!'

Ishida and Ichigo exchanged terrified looks and backed away from each other. The strawberry gulped, before his eyes slowly lifted up to examine the chandelier in question. It was dangling innocently above his head as if it had nothing to do with what was happening. All pureness and goodness and light with all those… teddy bears with pillows on it. Oh, such a hypocrite it was! The devil itself, behind those sleepy-looking animals. It just waited for someone to choose 'dare' and be doomed to lick it. Ichigo grimaced. He couldn't possibly reach that far with his tongue, even with his height and that only meant that he had to use something to get so high – and in this case, it seemed like this was going to be Mr. Pencil.

_Why, thank you, Matsumoto_!

'C'mon!' Rangiku exclaimed, frowning impatiently at the two males 'What's wrong with you two? Ichigo, jump on Ishida's shoulders and lick the chandelier. NOW!'

The two teens in question sweatdroped.

'But…' – the Quincy begun.

'Matsumotoooooo…!' Ichigo also whimpered.

'He'll squash me!'

'He'll drop me!'

'And then we'll be psychically traumatized forever!'

'Yeah. And it'll be your entire fault!'

Rangiku seemed completely unaffected by those assertions. She just stood calm and smiling, nodding from time to time absently, without even listening to what they were blabbering about. Which turned out to be a bad strategy, because Ishida and Ichigo continued their hear-breaking tirades for few more minutes, without showing any signs of stopping any time soon. And that was actually becoming pretty annoying.

Matsumoto sighed and rolled her eyes. She didn't have all day. The strawberry had to lick the chandelier – so she said – and he was going to, whether he liked it or not. She straightened her back and cleared her throat in preparation of what she was planning to do next:

'I SAID NOOOOOOOW!' she bellowed, making them jump on their feet. Within a second Ichigo was balancing on Ishida's shoulders, trying his best not to fall backwards while making not very successful attempts to reach the chandelier with his outstretched tongue. Rukia and Orihime were looking at them with a mix of amusement and pity, but eventually the first emotion turned out to be somewhat stronger and seconds later the ladies were rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.

Yup, it wasn't a sight you could see every day.

What to do! Not everybody had to lick chandeliers, while balancing on a pencil-like man's shoulders.

'To the right, Ichigo!' Matsumoto sing-songed.

'Mfffeeeffll!' the strawberry answered, his tongue still outstretched as he grabbed the chandelier with both hands and with determination that was worth admiration craned his neck as far as possible.

'Almost there!' Rangiku exclaimed, exited a bit too much by Ichigo's progress.

'Come on…! Can't you do it a little faster?' Ishida groaned, while trying not to drop the man on his shoulders. Kurosaki let out an annoyed muffled sound. Why, weren't those two just so nice! Being all concerned about him and all. Real friends. Honestly, it was sooo wonderful to have somebody to dare you to lick the chandelier and another friend's shoulder for support.

_Almost…!_

Ichigo's eyes widened and just as the tip of his tongue was about to reach its aim… he lost balance.

'Ouch!' Matsumoto winced at the two boys landed hard on the floor in a messy pile of limbs 'I suppose you'll have to start all over.'

Much cursing, balancing and a proper lick of the chandelier later, everybody was sitting on the floor once again. This time it was Ichigo's turn and he decided to torment Rukia for laughing so loud at his harassment. Mmm, what to do! He was a vicious lil strawberry.

Rukia gulped and smiled nervously at his gloomy look. Oh, she wouldn't choose a dare, would she? She so didn't want to get some wicked task. And the crabby look on Ichigo's face could only bring her… well, let's call it _unhappiness_. So she decided to be wise and careful and chose truth.

'Great.' Ichigo murmured a bit sullenly and after few seconds of musing over what to ask, finally said 'If you were the opposite sex for one hour, what would you do?'

Rukia blinked, then chucked her chin thoughtfully.

'The opposite sex, huh?' she mumbled 'You mean like you? And Ishida? And Hitsugaya-taicho?'

The strawberry sweatdropped.

'Yes, that's exactly what I mean.' He answered plainly.

'Ah! Well, that's easy!' Rukia exclaimed with a smirk as she folded her arms in front of her chest proudly 'I would pee.'

Pause. The two boys exchanged somewhat bothered glances and sweatdropped.

'That's a… frank reply...' Ishida noticed as he pushed his glasses up his nose a bit.

'Whaaat? I would do that, too!' Matsumoto announced sulkily and folded her arms.

'Me, too.' Orihime added proudly. Ishida and Ichigo only sweatdropped more. Girls could be way too straightforward sometimes. Disturbingly straightforward.

'My turn!' Rukia cheered and her eyes wandered around the players before landing on the Quincy 'Truth or dare?'

'Truth.' Ishida answered, shrinking a bit as he prepared himself for Kuchiki's wicked questions. Rukia had a bit of a… _odd_ way of thinking. To put it that way. And '_odd_' could be really unhealthy for the surroundings sometimes.

The black-haired girl took her time thinking of what to ask and when she finally made up her mind, a large, dangerously huge grin formed on her lips.

'What was the reason for the last time you cried?' she chirped, her grin quickly turning into a gloating smirk. A tiny blush tinted Ishida's cheeks as he once again pushed his glasses up his nose.

'When… a boy stole my… tailoring set.' He murmured half-heartedly and before anyone had time to comment the answer, he cleared his throat and asked loudly 'Ichigo! Truth or dare?'

Having the bad memories from the last dare still fresh in his mind, the strawberry decided to choose truth as well and was quickly awarded by the following question:

'Who do you think is the best looking person in the room?'

Ichigo's eyes widened and he turned towards the girls, blushing slightly.

'I… uhhh… That's pretty tough.' He said, scratching the back of his head nervoudly 'I mean… I mean all of you, girls, look great and all…'

'You have to choose _one_!' Ishida reminded firmly, as he raised his index finger like a very wise teacher who was advising his oh-so-dumb student. A.k.a. Ichigo. Feeling somewhat offended, Ichigo in question shot the pencil-guy a glare that promised only destruction after the game was over and once again focused on the females in the room.

'Fine, fine, I will… but… oh, well. Uhhhhhhh…. Errrrr… I-I mean…' his eyes shifted from Rukia to Orihime and to Matsumoto nervously as he tried to decide which of them would hurt him the least if he didn't choose her and which one would kill him very, very slowly and painfully. It was a hard thing to predict. Women could be really evil when it came to beauty and man's opinion about it. Ichigo bet that in such situation they were even worse then a whole roaring army of hollows.

'It seems like this is going to take awhile.' Matsumoto noticed after a minute or so and yawned wearily before standing up and stretching her arms 'I'll go fetch taicho while Mister Macho here is done. I'll be right back.'

And with that she walked out of the room, leaving a very harassed Ichigo to stare at the two girls that were left. Poor guy. He was truly going to have one hell of an evening after the game was over. Ishida could be sooo cruel sometimes.

Matsumoto shook her head before walking to the staircase and starting to climb it. To be honest, she was a bit worried about Hitsugaya. Maybe she had gone a bit too far with him. He wasn't exactly the type that liked being touched by other people, not to mention the woman he had crush on having her hand on his thigh. So this was probably somewhat too much for his cute little head to comprehend.

_Cute little pink-haired head, at the moment!_

Yup, maybe it really had been too much for him for one day. Pink hair. Hand on your thigh. Uh huh. Poor Toushiro – traumatized. Tut-tut!

Rangiku put her hands on her hips as she finally got upstairs and at the beginning of the corridor.

'Taiiiichoo? Oh, taicho? Where are you?' Matsumoto cooed, even though she didn't even bother searching for him – she headed directly to their room. She was sure he was there. Possibly very irritated. Possibly very crabby. Possibly pacing around the room while musing over whether to leave it or not.

Matsumoto smirked. Oh, she was so going to drag him downstairs. Even if he was not about to play, he was going to be with them and be a victim of the people who choose dare and that was that. When Matsumoto wants, Matsumoto gets. Laws of nature.

**A/N: Sorry for the late update! Sorry, sorry, sorry! It was just a really hard week for me. T.T Don't be mad! This chapter might be somewhat lame, for which I apologize… Again. Don't hate me. I'll try better with the next one, in which the game shall continue!**

**Oh, and one more thing – do u guys like Ichigo and Rukia as a pair?**


	12. Truth Or Dare Part 2

Hey there! Long time, no see, ne? Sorry bout that. Me and my new beta had some communication problems...

I've started apologizing too often (sigh)... Oh, well. Here's the 12th chapter. Hope you like it!

* * *

_Rukia…Orihime? Rukia? Orhime? Rukia?_

_WHICH ONE?!_

Sweat dropping, Ichigo felt himself slowly start to panic as his eyes shifted from one of the girls to another. The seconds passed by and all he could manage to say, or rather utter, were a fascinating consecution of unarticulated sounds that only left the others in even deeper suspicion of the strawberry's sanity. Dark irises continued their swift motions from one female individual to another in what seemed to be a desperate attempt to reach a very supreme conclusion, way too hard for Kurosaki's brain. Which one of the girls wouldn't hang him up and then make herself a coat out of his skin? Which one was safer to choose? And more importantly, which one did HE want to choose?

He didn't want to offend any of them. And, believe it or not, that was not due only to the feeling of self-preservation, but also by the fact they were both so close to him and he simply hated the idea of ruining this because of a stupid game…

Then again – he had to play according to the rules. He did opt the stupid 'truth'- thing after all, didn't he?

'Ichiiiiigggooo?' Ishida glanced at his watch impatiently. The other boy simply ignored him, too busy dealing with his own problems to care about the pencilman and his stupid watch…

_Which. One?_

Not having Matsumoto there didn't help much… Those two were enough to drive him crazy right then and there… if they hadn't already…

_Life can be sooo cruel…_

Crap. Why wasn't this like choosing what kind of ice-cream flavor you wanted?

But then again – choosing a flavor could be one hell of a trouble as well sometimes…

'Oh, come on, Ichigo, we won't be mad, just choose one, ok?' Rukia murmured with a not very imperceptible hint of growing annoyance in her voice as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

_Pure lie._

'Kurosaki, you're wasting our time!' Ishida snapped, narrowing his eyes at the other boy 'Just tell us already and let's go on with the game!'

Very slowly, Ichigo turned his head to glare at the Quincy, his eyes resembling ones of an enraged bull.

_Why you…!!!! YOU GOT ME INTO THIS, STUPID FOUR-EYED POT-HEAD!_

'Oh, you really wanna know, don't you?' he growled through tightly gritted teeth, before his eyes drifted to the girls 'YOU ALL wanna know? Oh, well, then… Guess what! I'm GONNA TELL YOU!'

_Rrrright… Bravo… So mature…_

'AND I… I THINK THE BEST-LOOKING PERSON… IN THE ROOM IS…'

_Drums, please! Here it is… The great moment has come…! And the Strawberry-guy's choice is…_

Ichigo swallowed with some difficulty. This was it. He had to name somebody. Make up his mind. Prefer an act, simply equal to a suicide… God, he had never in his life wished so much for a hollow to appear and attack the city!

And oh, the pressure… You could almost cut it with a knife.

Ichigo swallowed again, feeling trickles of sweat run down his temples and neck.

…Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?…

And here was one of the most despair times in the history. At least for Ichigo… And he did what he had to do to save his life, even if it meant major humiliation…

_'_ISHIDA!_'_

_…_Sound of crickets, singing in a field…

_Uh… Shit?_

Rukia and Orihime were staring at him with eyes big as saucers, just as if his head was suddenly replaced by a frying-pan. Ishida, on the other hand looked like he was going to faint any minute now by what seemed to be an unfixable mental trauma. His glasses slid down his suddenly very red and sweaty nose and almost fell right into his opened mouth – too bad they didn't, because it would've been a very interesting scene if they really did.

'Ummm…' Ichigo forced a smile 'Ishida here… has a great style… I mean… Look at his glasses! Have you ever seen something so sexy and… square? And-and… Uh… The shape of his head is just lovely! The loveliest shape… of a head… I've ever seen… Really…'

…_Who am I kiddin'…?_

'Uh, yeah… I-Indeed…' Orihime agreed, trying to be gentle, kind and understanding as always. This time, though, it turned out to be somewhat difficult. Next to her, Rukia sweat dropped and after two or three second of deep consideration also forced a nod and a smile, the fakeness of which, no one who wasn't very retarded could immediately see.

'Uh… W-well… 'Ichigo turned to the very much paralyzed and flushing Quincy with a sheepish grin on his lips, 'You really… have… some… very interesting things… in your uh… appearance…'

Swallowing with some difficulty, Ishida decided it was best just to end this as soon as possible and nodded with understanding.

'I-I see…' he managed to murmur, clearing his throat and after a short, but very awkward pause added 'I believe it's your turn now…'

Ichigo scratched the back of his neck nervously and a second of musing finally decided who to terrorize:

'Inoue!' he exclaimed, making the girl jump.

'Y-yes…' she mumbled, eyes lowering to the floor shyly.

'Ummm… Truth or dare?'

Without lifting her gaze off the floor, the girl answered quietly:

'T-truth…'

'Well then…' Ichigo chucked his chin thoughtfully, 'What is… the weirdest dream you've ever had?'

'Weirdest dream?' Orihime repeated, eyes finally leaving the floor to look at the strawberry quizzically. 'What kind of question is that?'

At that point the door burst open and a very satisfied-looking Matsumoto walked in, forcefully dragging her sulking taicho behind her by the wrist. At the funny looks the others gave him, Hitsugaya answered with a very cold and dreadful glare, pursed lips and a drop in the temperature.

'Let me go, dammit!' the prodigy hissed, struggling to get free from the iron grip. The scene painfully resembled one of a stubborn child and his mom on the street and that was the main reason why Ichigo, Ishida, Rukia and Orihime had to bite down hard on their lower lips to keep from bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

As Rangiku forced him to the middle of the room, he finally succeeded in pulling his hand away from her and folding his arms in front of his chest in his usual pigheaded manner.

'Matsumoto…' he began, twitching eyebrow in place 'What part from the sentence 'I don't want to play your stupid game!' did you _not _understand? Please, do explain!'

Grinning sheepishly, Matsumoto put her hands behind her back and innocently traced a line on the floor with her right foot.

'Oh, don't be like that, tai-chooo!' she sang, biting her lower lip in an attempt to look like a cute pure-minded angel, despite the pair of evil devil-like horns that were almost visibly sticking out of her head. 'I just really, really, really, really want you to be here with us… with me… Even if you don't play with us. Just being here, keeping me company. It's no biggy, now, is it, tai-chooo?'

Hitsugaya's scowl only deepened, though he didn't look even half as terrifying as he usually would because of the head-cloth with the smiling hearts he was wearing and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the lieutenant.

'I don't believe you, Matsumoto…' he admitted with a low hiss, before turning around so he was now facing the door 'I don't know what you have in mind, but I don't intend to be a part of it, so if you'll please excuse me, I…'

'NO!' Matsumoto screeched, horribly unpleasant sound that made everyone cringe, before lunging for the exit as she tackled her captain to the floor. Hitsugaya let out a surprised yelp, before landing on his face with a loud thud and with Rangiku, as it seemed, on top of him. Everybody in the room fell completely silent as they stared at the scene in front of them with wide curious eyes.

Ichigo was first to recover.

'Sooo, Inoue, what's your answer?' he asked, trying hard not to stare at how Matsumoto was now panicking over the fact she had almost knocked out her favorite and at the moment very dizzy and pained captain.

'I once… uh…' Orihime tore away her eyes from the heads of the tenth division with some difficulty before continuing rather absently-mindedly 'Once… dreamt… I was chased by hungry meat-eating chickens and their walking eggs… I've never truly understood what it meant.'

Meanwhile in the background:

'_OH, FOR GOD'S SAKE, MATSUMOTO, JUST LET ME GO, I'M ALRIGHT, OK? YOU CAN STOP SHAKING ME!'_

'Who knows? Maybe you had too much poultry for dinner?' Rukia suggested, cocking a brow. In response, Orihime directed a thoughtful look to the ceiling.

'_Are you sure taicho? You look a bit ill…_'

'I don't know… Maybe I really did…' she murmured.

'_That's because YOU'RE SHAKING ME!_'

'Hey, do you think we should interfere?' Kuchiki questioned, nodding lazily towards Matsumoto and Hitsugaya's direction.

'_Ok, ok! I'm stopping! Sheesh! There. Are you happy?_'

'Not really.' Orihime replied with a sigh 'I don't think it'd be very good for our health.'

'_Wow, great timing! I was about to throw up on top of you. And YES, I AM happy!_'

'_I didn't know such little things made you happy, taicho._'

'…_Oh, do tell…_'

'Okay, I'm next, right?' Orihime asked, before turning to Rukia 'Truth or dare?'

'_Hey, taicho, is it just me, or is your eyebrow really twitching?_'

'_Make a wild guess._'

'_Um, it's just me?_'

'_You wish._'

'_Oh. Ok then. So it's not just me. Then again… It's not like it's anything unusual…'_

_'When it comes to you, it definitely isn't…'_

'Ah… Truth, I suppose.' Kuchiki retorted, running a hand through her black hair nervously 'I don't feel like doing any funny stuff right now…'

'_Do you need any artificial respiration, taicho?_'

'_What? NO!_'

'_Mmmm, are you suuuurrreee?_'

'_Y-yes, completely sure! Just… get off me, please?_'

'_Are you… blushing, taicho?_'

'_Uh… No._'

'_Really? What's with this odd pink color on your cheeks then?_'

'_You're imagining things._'

'_**You**__'re the dizzy one! __**You**__ should be imagining things!_'

'_Says who?_'

'Besides,' Rukia continued, glancing at the struggling captain and lieutenant. 'I think those two are giving us enough show for now…'

'True.' Orihime nodded. 'Now here's the question: um… ummmm… have you ever… stuffed your bra?'

Pause.

'WHAT?' Rukia's eyes widened indignantly as she glanced down at her humble bosom. 'Why do you want to know?'

'I don't know. It was just the first question that came to my mind…' Orihime shrugged innocently. 'So have you?'

'_I'm letting go if you promise you won't leave, taicho!_'

'_I'm not going to make any deals with you!_'

'_Ok. Then I'll be forced to perform artificial respiration to make sure you're all healthy before you leave my sight…_'

'_ARHG! ALRIGHT! YOU WIN! I… promise…_'

'_Yay, taicho!_'

'_Now will you let go?_'

'_Mmm, can I hug you before I do that?_'

'_No._'

'_Even if I say pretty please?_'

'_Even if you say pretty please, my answer is still no._'

'_Awwww, you're one mean taicho!_'

'_Yes, I am. Now let me go!_'

'_Just a teensy-weensy hug? For your gorgeous loyal lieutenant? For me, who does everything you ask me to: brings you tea and… And-and who… ALWAYS… makes sure… to take care of the paperwork… In one way or another… Don't I deserve one lil hug for everything I've…_'

'_MATSUMOTO! GET. OFF. ME! NOW!_'

'(sigh) _Ohh, alright… alright…_'

'_Thank you very much. Geez… get a polar teddy bear…._'

Rukia looked around in hope for some support or even tiny hint of sympathy from the others or at least _something_ to show that they were as indignant by such question as she was. Or maybe at least _nearly_ as disturbed of what Orihime had asked. Maybe some push of the glasses up his nose or clearing of the throat from Ishida with which he would announce ever so tactfully of his disapproval. Or some brotherly protection from Ichigo's side in response to her humiliation. A growl. A glare. A snort. A remark. A… something…?

However, she found nothing but curious eyes, glued on her… or her bosom.

_What the…?_

Pursing her lips, she folded her arms in front of her, at the moment, extremely molested chest and glared at Ichigo dangerously.

'What?' the strawberry exclaimed with confusion 'What did I do?'

Rukia's glare hardened.

'Don't. Look. There!' she hissed, making the orange-haired teen blush and redirect his gaze to a suddenly very fascinating spot on the window.

'Rukia!' Orihime whined. 'Come on, it's not big deal, just say yes or no.'

The black-haired girl inhaled sharply in attempt to soothe her annoyance and chase the blush away from her cheeks.

'Of course not!' Rukia muttered sulkily 'Except… maybe once. Or twice. BUT NO MORE, OK? That's practically considered nothing! And it was on special occasions… and… and… and… Oh, for God's sake! Ishida, truth or dare?'

Ishida sighed, not liking the idea of being forced to answer weird questions as the previous players had to. So, considering himself a proud man with many wonderful qualities aside, ahem, sexy glasses and fascinating head-shape, he decided to pick:

'Dare.'

Rukia's eyes darkened with gloating joy and a creepy smirk quickly formed on her lips:

'Well, then…' she began, trying to hold back the very evil laugh that threatened to leave her throat and freak out everybody in the radius of a mile or so, 'Go on the street, wearing only your boxers and ask the first person you see on a date.'

_Oh, yes_… Ishida blew a lock of hair away from his face tiredly. He had soo seen it coming… oh, the humiliation! Why did this game have to mean so much embarassment for the poor, innocent pencil-man? Where was the justice in this world?

Obviously, in any other place except here.

* * *

Five minutes later…

Silently cursing his choice, Ishida stood on the front steps, wearing only his underwear, as he examined the deserted street. Behind him stood the rest of the gang, now including a very curious Hitsugaya with Matsumoto's hands on his shoulders, all waiting to see the oh-so magnificent event and engrave it in their memory for the rest of their lives.

'Oh! Oh! There's somebody over there!' Orihime exclaimed excitedly, pointing at a massive figure, standing with his/her back facing them near a street lamp. There were some other people in front of him, but considering that one person was the closest one to Orihime's house and therefore to the Quincy, it seemed that he/she was exactly who they needed.

'That's a man…' Ishida noticed, sweat dropping.

'So?' Rukia asked, traces of mock casualty in her voice 'I don't remember saying what gender your victim would be.'

Ishida let out a low growl and rolled his eyes heavenwards. The sooner he did it, the sooner he would be able to try and forget it. If he had luck, this guy was going to shoot him right there and then and end his miserable life, and if the Quincy didn't have any luck, the guy was going to turn out to be a GAY and maybe agree on the date… Well, in both cases he was obviously doomed…

Taking a deep breath, Ishida started to slowly make his way towards the man, while trying to ignore the very unpleasant feeling of the ground under his feet and the feeling of being laughed as he performed the humiliation of his life because of a stupid game.

_Ok, just let's get it over with…_

Gulping, Ishida stopped behind the man and pushed his glasses up his nose a bit. His cheeks were burning and he could feel the blush quickly spread across his whole body. Oh, crap. This was indeed a sticky dare…

'Uh… Excuse me… Mister… Would you like to go on a date…with me?'

The man in front of him didn't move for a moment. Oh, and he was a very massive and scary man, indeed. He made Ishida feel like a shrimp in boxers and that was not a very pleasant thing to feel, especially after asking that same person on a date.

The man turned around…

Ishida gasped along with the rest of the gang.

_Oh, shit._

'Um… hi, Zaraki-san?'


	13. Truth Or Dare Part 3 Sort of

**A/N: Yes, it's been a looong time. My reasons are 3:**

**1. I went to Greece.**

**2. I had personal issues to deal with.**

**3. I was lazy.**

**Thanks miss Janabananah for your help! And everybody who still read this. **

**Not much Truth and Dare in this chapter but, oh well...**

**Oh! And by the way, for those who hadn't understood yet, my fic Feel The Beat is a HituMatsu one, not HituHina, I just messed up the properties! Oops! Sorry!**

* * *

'Ishida?' Zaraki questioned, raising a brow as he eyed the Quincy up and down 'What are you wearing? And did you just…?'

'NOPE!' Ishida almost shouted, shaking his head frantically, his whole face now red from embarrassment 'I so did not just ask you on a date wearing only my underwear. Hehehe. You are being ridiculous! Why would I do something like that?'

Pause.

'Did you just call me 'ridiculous'?' Zaraki once more asked, the little bells in his spiky hair tolling somewhat ominously as he slightly tilted his head to a side. In response Ishida gulped and shrunk, looking up at the giant guiltily.

'You must've misheard…' he assured the captain. At that point a small pink-haired head peeked over Zaraki's shoulder, looking at the Quincy curiously.

'PENCIL!' Yachiru chirped at the top of her very squeaky lungs 'YOU JUST ASKED KEN-CHAN ON A DATE! OOOOOH! HOW CUTE AND ROMANTIC AND ADORABLE AND FANTASTIC AND…'

'YES! I get your point, Yachiru, and I think the whole neighborhood did too.' Ishida half-heartedly cut her off, sweat dropping.

'Why, don't be so rude, Ishida, I think the lieutenant didn't say anything wrong.' A voice from behind Kenpachi's wide back pointed out and Kyouraku walked out with the usual lazy smile on his face, followed closely by his own Fukutaicho Nanao and… a couple of more people.

Hitsugaya, who was still standing at the door-steps, felt his eyes widen and before he had time to realize what he was doing, he yelled at the top of his lungs:

'WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL OF YOU DOING HERE??'

Matsumoto winced. Uh-oh. Hitsugaya was livid.

In what seemed to be an instant, Toushiro was in front of the group, hands folded in front of his chest as his burning glare travelled from one puzzled innocent face to another in the following order: Kyouraku, Yachiru, Zaraki, Nanao... and oh!... Ikkaku and Yumichika, of course. The more, the merrier…

… However, not for the young captain.

'What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. You. DAMMIT?!' he shouted 'WHAT DID YOU COME HERE FOR? I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION NOW! AND IT BETTER INCLUDE SOME MISSION OR ELSE…!'

'Oi, calm down, Toushiro!' Kyouraku pretty much whined 'We are attending to what you say! You don't have to shout. As it is, your head-cloth attracts enough attention to guide a herd of elephants here. You needn't raise your voice to do that.'

Hitsugaya's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing dangerously. However, he did not have any time to respond as Kyouraku's very sly mind was already functioning with full power.

'Also!' The eighth division captain continued, smirking as he pointed his index finger victoriously at Hitsugaya. 'Be a good boy and don't forget that I know your dirty little secret.'

'What are you…?' Toushiro begun suspiciously, trying to get what the other one was talking about. Then it hit him. The bright and oh-so-merry image of Kyouraku, standing at the doorsteps of Matsumoto's room as he, himself, lying on the floor with a bikini in his hands popped even more merrily in his mind…

'I-… That was an accident!' The boy insisted with the most stubborn and confident face he could muster while his cheeks were burning.

'Uh, yeah, right…' Kyouraku gave him the most distrustful look ever before lifting his gaze up to look with a huge grin at something behind the young captain's back 'Oh, hi there, Rangiku!'

'What's going on here?' Matsumoto asked; hand landing on Hitsugaya's shoulder and making him stiffen unintentionally. 'Why did you all come?'

'We are on a holiday!!' Yachiro cheered, bouncing happily on Kenpachi's solid back and shoulders.

'On holiday!' Hisugaya exclaimed, eyes wide 'You gotta be kiddin' me!'

'Nope. It's not a joke.'

'You just decided to have a rest HERE all of the sudden? ALL of you?'

'Uh… yeah!' Ikakku grinned sheepishly 'And we'll make sure to spend as much time as possible with you guys.'

'Don't tell me…' Hitsugaya breathed out, slapping his forehead 'Your life was in danger because of the heat and you just HAD to drop on me all of a sudden…'

'I was just feeling friendly.' Yachiru pointed out, thoughtfully chucking her chin. Hitsugaya just sighed; rubbing his brows.

'Any other confessions?' he asked slowly, eyeing the newly arrived shinigami.

Pause.

Zarai raised a hand.

'Yes?' Hitsugaya asked, hopefully gesturing to the man to speak.

'The heat isn't my main reason. I came to fight Kurosaki Ichigo.'

'Uh… right. Thank you, Zaraki-Taicho… for sharing with us… Anyone else?'

Nanao raised her hand.

'Yes?'

'I came to look after my completely irresponsible and very tendentious to "until-dead-to-the-world' sake drinking Kyouraku-Taicho and make sure he behaves properly.' She replied as if she was dictating a pudding recipe and fixed her glasses. Beside her, the captain in question just smiled happily.

'I see.' Hitsugaya murmured 'How very… practical of you, Nanao-Fukutaicho… Is there _any_one else who'd like to share?'

…Sound of crickets, singing in a field…

'Yeah… That's what I thought…' he murmured under his breath and turned around on his heel 'But this sooo doesn't mean I care. I'm not going to be your personal air-conditioner and that's that.'

And with those words, and the silent desire to turn some certain people into icicles, he started to make his way back to Orihime's house. However, his plan not to let the newly arrived shinigami come closer than a kilometer to him was quickly shattered into tiny pieces as a very familiar voice reached his ears and made him stop dead on his tracks.

'Shiro-chan?'

His features softened and he released the angry breath he was holding, his body visibly relaxing as the familiar voice did its thing and quickly subdued his temper.

'It's Hitsugaya-Taicho…' he corrected, though the usual coldness had obviously decreased some and he slowly turned around 'Hello, Hinamori.'

Making her way from somewhere behind Ikakku and Yumichika, Hinamori Momo approached him, a shy smile forming on her lips.

'Hey, there…' she absently ran a hand through her dark hair, eyes lowering nervously 'How have you been? You… um… left Sereitei without telling me…'

'Yeah, I know it was a bit sudden. But I had a reason for that…' Hitsugaya replied, his eyes redirecting for a second to glare at Ikkaku, Yumichika and Kyouraku before once more focusing on the girl. 'You came here with them?'

'Uh huh!' Hinamori beamed, putting her hands behind her back and slightly standing on her tiptoes 'They were so very kind to tell me they were going to visit you and I decided to come. I hope you don't mind…' At that point she got back down, her smile reduced. '…do you?'

Letting out a very inarticulate sound, Hitsugaya looked away, sweatdropping…

* * *

15minutes later…

'Sooooo… How is this game of yours played?' Kyouraku asked as he settled himself next to Nanao on the floor in Orihime's living-room.

'It's pretty simple.' Ichigo pointed out from his place beside Rukia 'Some of us chooses a victim and asks him or her 'Truth or dare?'. And then if you opt truth you have to answer a question without lying and if you decide on dare – you have to do something they tell you to do, no matter how annoying and humiliating it is. Got it?'

'So…' Kyouraku thoughtfully began. 'If Nanao-chan chooses 'dare'… and I ask her, say, to give me her bra, she'll have to do it?'

'Uuuuhhh, yeah, theoretically she'll have to but…'

'I'm not playing.' Nanao announced coldly, instantly shattering her captain's dreams into tiny-tiny pieces...

'Ooooh! Don't be like that, my sweet…'

'I'm not playing. Period.' She cut him off again. 'If you desire a bra so much, go buy yourself one.'

'But you have the only bra I desire!'

'Too bad, then.'

'You're so cruel, Nanao-chan! Do you always have to break my heart like this?'

'I'm afraid so.'

Kyouraku sighed and shook his head before returning his attention back to Ichigo.

'Sadly enough, I guess I'll have to do without a bra.' He pointed out 'Now, where are the other players?'

'You mean Matsumoto, Ikakku and Yumichika? Um, Rangiku took them in the kitchen to talk with them about something.' The strawberry replied, shrugging as he eyed the door behind which said people had disappeared 'I wonder what all this is about…'

Kyouraku glanced thoughtfully at Hitsugaya and Hinamori, who were chatting (or more like she was and he was trying very hard to pay her attention) quietly in the back of the room, obviously far away from the idea of playing any games with the others.

'Well, I think I know the reason…' the captain of the eighth division murmured.

Meanwhile:

'Is SHE your secret weapon??' Matsumoto hissed, her face centimeters away from Ikakku's. Shrinking, he let out a nervous laugh before backing off, only to find himself against the wall.

'Uh… Well… Sort of.' He mumbled, sweatdropping 'I-I don't see why you're getting so upset about it…'

'Of course you wouldn't!' Matsumoto snapped, grabbing a fork from the counter next to her and stabbing it in the wall beside his cheek 'You are sooo ruining my holiday, my plans, EVERYTHING! Because of that cry-baby you've dragged with you!'

'Excuse me…' Yumichika began.

'QUIET YOU! DON'T YOU SEE I'M HAVING A CONVERSATION HERE!'

That statement was followed closely by a flying fork in Ayasegawa's direction. Gulping soundly, said narcissus decided to quietly step back, for the risk of getting his beautiful face damaged was way too great for him to take.

Satisfied with the frightened look Yumichika was giving her, Matsumoto once again turned her attention to Ikakku (much to his displeasure, one might add), her fist clenching around the collar of his white shirt.

'Now…' she growled, shaking him a bit 'Tell me you're going to take Hinamori away!'

'What? No, why?' Ikakku replied, giving her a puzzled look 'Why are you suddenly so against Momo's presence? I thought you two were friends.'

Matsumoto rolled her eyes.

'Usually…' she began, saying each word as if she was explaining what a fly was to a very retarded person 'I don't mind Momo. There're really few things I don't like about her. Things like her obsession with Aizen and other just as unpleasant but natural for naïve people stuff. HOWEVER, my dear Madarame, the girl has a certain and very unwanted effect on my Captain… Which is why I want her gone. And soon.'

Pause.

'Oh…' Ikakku blinked; eyes widening as the realization finally sank in. Matsumoto nodded with approval and let go of him. Unfortunately, that lasted only for a moment, for the bold guy's next action included yelling a very inappropriate thing at the top of his lungs and she had to gag him as quickly as possible.

'AHAHAHA! RANGIKU'S JEALOUS! JEALOUS OF… MFPH!'

* * *

Meanwhile:

'Did you hear that?' Hitsugaya asked, glancing at the door's direction. 'Sounded like a very excited Ikakku to me…'

Hinamori shrugged, her bright cheerful expression darkening for a moment.

'I guess Matumoto-Fukutaicho doesn't have a problem with that…' She murmured, absently looking out of the window. Hitsugaya's eyes snapped back to give her a puzzled look.

'Problem with what?'

'Exciting men.' She replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Hitsugaya needed a second or two to let the words' meaning completely sink in.

'WHAT?' He exclaimed, indignation and embarrassment written all over his face 'It didn't sound like that at all…'

'I'm just saying in general.' Momo pointed out, shrugging as if they were merely discussing the weather forecast. The young prodigy chose not to continue the conversation in that direction and he changed the topic. However, Hitsugaya couldn't help but ponder over the said words, which created a very unpleasant feeling in his stomach. He knew his Fukutaicho was attractive, sexy and well-acknowledged when it came to love affairs. But those were just stories, which people told and he never considered very closely related to him. They seemed so far away from his being and for some reason far away from the woman that came everyday to his office, that he just didn't take it all that seriously… More or less, he thought of all that as if she wasn't doing anything special with those guys, that she was just… spending time with them. He never actually thought about it as more than just… words…

But if he tried to imagine…

…Matsumoto? With someone else…?

Hitsugaya couldn't help it as a rather unpleasant chill ran down his spine.

_Why does it feel so… obnoxious… to think about it… and so angering… and…_

_…And?_

_…What the hell does this woman mean to me, anyway?_

Hitsugaya's eyes snapped towards the door as it swung open and Matsumoto came in, followed by Yumichika and Ikkaku. She looked kind of gloomy, which was rather uncommon for her usually annoying happy-go-lucky attitude and the funny thing was that Madarame, who was walking right behind her, had this very suspicious amused smirk spread across his face…

'Finally! That's a long conversation you had there.' Kyouraku noticed, eyeing the trio with a raised eyebrow.

'Indeed.' Hitsugaya found himself commenting 'And, by the way, what was with the shouting?'

In respond Ikkaku glanced in the young Captain's direction and let out a soft snicker before settling himself next to Nanao. Hitsugaya just blinked, completely confused by the reaction and gave his Fukutaicho a quizzical look. With a small puff, Matsumoto rolled her eyes and smacked the back of Madarame's neck viciously.

'Our friend here got his brain overworked.' She hissed, before settling herself on the ground as well. She took a deep breath, her eyes closing for a moment as if she was trying to clear her head of any sorts of disturbing thoughts and when she opened them again, the bright cheerful smile was back in place, leaving her Taicho still pondering over the quite unclear answer.

'Now shall we begin?' she chirped, grinning widely. The others just exchanged odd looks and shrugged.

Hitsugaya and Hinamori did not take part in the game, since the captain didn't feel like it was very safe for him to do so and that decision of his was welcomed with opened arms by the girl, who wished nothing more but to chatter about random things and do everything in her power to keep his mind off everything else (or anyone else) except of her. However, her plan didn't work very well, for Toushiro lost track of what she was talking about way too often, staring thoughtfully out of the window and she had to poke him to get him back to reality. He would shake his head and apologize quietly each time, ask her to continue and not to be mad with him, but she found her patience wearing off as she realized how many times his eyes landed on a certain lady in the room that was definitely not her. Momo didn't like those looks he gave Matsumoto even the slightest bit; mostly because she couldn't quite understand them. She'd never been able to understand her childhood friend completely,even though she knew him for longer then anyone else. However, what bothered her the most was the fact that this woman, his Fukutaicho, had somehow gotten deeper under his skin then she had imagined she could, maybe deeper then Momo herself. And that was definitely something to be worried about…

'…And then I was like, you know, feeling kind of… HEY!' Hinamori gave a powerful tug on his sleeve 'Stop. Spacing. Out! I was talking to you, you know!'

Hitsugaya blinked a couple of times; feeling slightly embarrassed by losing track of what she was talking about yet again.

'Oh… uh, sorry… What were you saying?' he murmured, scratching the back of his neck. Hinamori frowned.

'If you don't like talking to me, just say so!' she snapped, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

_**Yes, please. This is getting on our nerves, here**__. _Hyourinmaru's voice rang in the boy's head, but he chose to ignore it.

'It's not like that.' Hitsugaya tried to assure her 'I'm jut a bit tired. But I do want you to…'

_**Oh, puh-lease! How can you listen to h**__**er **__**when you have sweet, funny and oh, so **__**sexy **__**Rangiku. Just. Over. There. See those assets? Mmmm… Now, those are just…**_

'Shut up!' Hitsugaya snapped, glaring at the sword that was dangling next to his hip. Unfortunately, those two words didn't come out as well after the previous sentence.

'You want me to shut up!' Hinamori interjected, jumping on her feet. Hitsugaya gave her a quizzical look, not quite understanding what had just happened. Then it hit him and he felt his eyes widen and his mouth agape.

'W-wha… NO! I didn't mean it like that!' he tried. Hinamori's eyes narrowed.

'And how did you mean it?' She spat, looking exactly like a very venomous little snake, ready to bite.

'I was just talking to…' he began, but he wasn't able to finish as a hand suddenly caught a hold of his shoulder and he found himself being pulled up and turned around.

'Taicho!' Matsumoto cheered 'You're part of my next dare! Come here!'

'What?' Hitsugaya asked, completely confused as she began dragging him out of the room.


	14. Truth Or Dare Part 4

'Matsumoto! What do you think you're doing!' Hitsugaya exclaimed as he was forced into the corridor by his cheerful lieutenant, the door swiftly being kicked close behind them.

'What does it look like I'm doing?' she asked as she continued to drag him away from the living-room. He let his eyelids lower with annoyance as he attempted to yank his arm away and only succeeded in tripping and almost falling on the ground. Matsumoto didn't seem to mind, though, for she was so very aware of the fact that he didn't like the treatment at all. But did that fact bother her at all? I say no. She says no, too.

Hitsugaya let out a small gasp as he suddenly found himself trapped between the wall and Matsumoto, his back pressed against the cold solid surface while his fukutaicho's hands caught a firm hold on his shoulders.

'Now, taicho' she begun, giving him an incredibly serious look 'I need you not to move much. Just stay still and try not to hit, punch or kick me. Oh! And screaming wouldn't be welcomed with opened arms, either.'

'Screaming?' Toushiro repeated weakly and instinctively shrank against the wall as she leaned forward, her face just inches away from his.

'Don't worry, it'll be over very quickly.' She promised, but he couldn't help it but gulp rather audibly as he spotted the small smirk that was forming on her lips…

'M-matsumoto…?' he uttered, his eyes widening as she began to close the gap between them.

* * *

Meanwhile:

'He's awfully quiet…' Kyouraku pointed out, raising an eyebrow 'Do you think she could've knocked him out to fulfill the dare?'

'I sincerely hope she chose not to be so extreme.' Nanao murmured, fixing the position of her glasses absently as she glanced in the door's direction 'I can't be sure, however, for Rangiku could be quite unpredictable sometimes… Especially when it comes to her captain.'

Ichigo and Ishida exchanged worried looks, while Kyouraku just sighed and shook his head broken-hearted:

'I wish _my_ fukutaicho would be a little unpredictable sometimes…' he groaned. In respond, Nanao slowly turned her head to him and eyed him with her brow indifferently raised.

'I hope you won't be too precise in public, now will you?' she asked in a way that made a few of the shinigami around them to pull back and swallow with some difficultly. In contrast to those individuals, Kyouraku gave her a calm amused smile, his hand reaching for the brim of his hat.

'Well, if that's not according to your desires, we could always discuss that in a more private place, my dear.' He cooed. There was a pause, during which nobody dared to move or even breath, their gazes all locked on the dark-haired woman and her frigid face.

'I'd rather decline, Captain.' She finally replied 'But thank you for the offer, nevertheless.' The edge of her lips flinched almost unnoticeably as if she was about to smile, but stopped herself just in time. This reaction, however, didn't remain unheeded by her taicho and he could help it but respond to it with a smirk.

'Any time. Inform me if you change your decision.' Kyouraku said, smirk growing even bigger before he turned his attention back to the others and opened his mouth to say something to them. However, he most shamelessly was prevented to for at that point the door burst open soundly, revealing a very satisfied-looking Matsumoto, with suspiciously large grin on her face.

'Done!' she announced happily, reaching to fix the head-cloth with the dinosaurs before putting her hands on her hips triumphantly. The others exchanged puzzled glances.

'Well… Where's he then?' Rukia finally asked, raising a quizzing brow. Matsumoto waved her hand dismissively.

'He's over here. He's just being shy.' She explained, nodding a few times to support her statement. At that point Momo, who'd been staying quiet and uninterfereful so far, frowned, before spatting somewhat viciously:

'And what is he being _so_ shy about?'

Matsumoto's large grin half-faded at the harsh way the question was asked and she eyed Hinamori with a hint of annoyance in her pale-blue eyes.

'Just because of the dare I had to accomplish.' The strawberry-haired woman told her slightly tilting her head to a side. Useless explanation, no doubt, but she wasn't sure if she had to give a too detailed one considering the circumstances. The little peach was a touchy person. And she was mad about something. So telling her what her favourite Shiro-chan had just experience might as well not be the greatest idea ever.

'Really?' the younger girl asked, folding her hands in front of her chest and raising both brows 'And what was that dare, huh?'

Matsumoto's grin completely vanished as she looked to her right with a bit of a concern in her eyes. A sigh sounded from somewhere in the corridor and after a short pause, Hitsugaya walked into the room, face bright red and palm clapped on the side of his neck.

'Ah!' Yachiro exclaimed, happily clapping her hands together 'There he is! Show me, show me! I wanna see if Booby has accomplished my dare strictly!'

Hitsugaya flexed his fingers reluctantly, eyes drifting to Matsumoto for a second and causing his cheeks to redden even more.

'Well…' he sighed with defeat.

Everybody in the room craned their necks in curiosity as he slowly removed the hand that was blocking their view.

'What the…' Hinamori begun, eyes widening as she sought the three red spots on her childhood friend's tender pale flesh 'What kind of dare is _that_?'

'She had to give him three hickies.' Ichigo explained unnecessarily. Hinamori shot him a very indistinctive for her personality glare, before shifting her gaze to Hitsugaya. There was a very awkward pause, during which Toushiro's blush only became redder, then Momo shook her head disapprovingly, gathered her stuff and before anyone could stop her, rushed out of the room.

'Momo, wait!' Hitsugaya yelled as he realized a bit too late that she had just stormed out. And what seemed to be less than a second later, he was also gone.

The room went quiet for a couple of seconds before Kyouraku's voice finally broke the silence:

'Well, let's leave the kids deal with their feelings and hope our little Captain will be back before his ice reiatsu's effect wears off and in the meanwhile, let's keep it up with the game. Rangiku, it's your turn.'

Matsumoto, who was staring distractedly after her taicho and his childhoodfriend, reluctantly turned her attention to the anticipating players:

'Well, Zaraki, truth or dare?' she questioned him without giving it much thinking. The giant captain grinned maniacally, a few bells accompanying his low chuckle with their gentle ringing as he bellowed:

'Dare!'

'The lick the ear of the player opposite of you. I'll be back in a few minutes. Continue without me.' She blurted without stopping for a breath and dashed out of the house in the direction Hitsugaya had disappeared, leaving a very confused bunch of shinigami staring after her. A couple of moments later, Zaraki finally decided he could as well do as he was said and turned his attention to the player opposite of himself.

His eyes widened.

'Ishida?' he exclaimed, while the Quincy himself paled dangerously at the realization of their terrible luck that evening.

A few half-muffled chuckles sounded at the background.

Meanwhile:

'I honestly don't understand what you are being so angry about!' Hitsugaya exclaimed as he continued walking after the very exasperated Hinamori Momo 'It was just a dare! _Besides_, does it even make a difference to you _whether_ it's a dare or not?'

'Shut up!' she shouted without looking back.

'Shut up? Well, if isn't that mature!' Hitsugaya exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

'What do _you_ know about maturity? And yeah, SHUT THE HELL UP! You don't want to listen to me, so neither do I! GO away!' Hinamori yelled, making the boy roll his eyes with annoyance.

'I do know MUCH about maturity unlike some people who wouldn't stop and GIVE A PROPER EXPLANATION TO THEIR ACTIONS!' he found himself also yelling.

Halting at an instant, Hinamori turned around abruptly to face him.

'Think, boy genius!' she hissed, catching him completely off guard 'You and that lieutenant of yours!'

'Matsumoto?' he questioned weakly.

'Yes! Can't you see?'

'Uh…'

'CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT SHE'S DOING?!'

'Um…'

'Exactly!'

'Wh-wha-…?'

'She's doing it so well that you CAN'T SEE!'

'See what?'

'What she's doing! She doing… She's doing everything to get under you skin!'

'I don't get it…'

'See?? She even destroys your brain cells! You can't think straight!'

'My _brain cells_?'

_**Is there something wrong with me or does that girl make no sense at all?**_

'I think it's the second…' Hitsugaya murmured, which only made Momo thrust her face into his, her expression pure suspiciousness.

'What was _that_?' she asked.

'Nothing. Keep going.' He replied, sweatdropping.

'What I mean to say is…' Hinamori continued, after retrieving and putting her hands on her hips 'Is that that woman is doing anything in her power to get to you and what's more important _you are allowing her_! She drags you here, on a holiday where it'd be mainly she and you, she gets in a dare where she gets to give you love bites and God know what else she does that I don't know about!'

Pause.

'Is that bad?' Hitsugaya asked, blinking. Hinamori threw her hands in the air with exasperation.

'YES!!'

_**Uh… no? Can I knock her out now? Pretty please?**_

'No.' Hitsugaya answered his zanpakuto, making sure not to move his lips much as he watched Hinamori continue to try to convince him of something he wasn't even listening to.

_**Puh-lease?**_

'No.'

_**But she's gone hysterical!**_

'Girls do that.'

_**Said the big pro.**_

'What's that supposed to mean?'

_**Nothing. I'm just fooling around.**_

'…Sure. Now shut up.'

_**Ok.**_

_**By the way…**_

'What?'

_**Here comes Matsumoto to the rescue! YAY! Go, oh, valiant lass! Armed with beauty and enormous assets! Gifted with magnificent courage and legs that…**_

'Shut the hell up, dammit!'

_**(acts heart-broken) You hurt my feelings! (sniff)**_

'Whatever.'

At that point Matsumoto finally approached them, looking somewhat puzzled and just a tiny bit annoyed.

'Come on, you two, what are you fighting about?' she asked, folding her arms 'Let's get inside and have fun with the others.'

Hinamori glared at her, then gave Hitsugaya a long intense look until he finally sighed with defeat and turned to Matsumoto rather reluctantly:

'I'm sorry, can we have a moment of privacy, please?' he asked carefully. Matsumoto frowned and rolled her eyes before retreating a few steps and leaning against the trunk of some tree, while waiting for them to deal with whatever kind of problem they had. Hitsugaya removed his eyes from his fukutaicho's rather irritated face to give Momo a quizzical look.

'Now calm down and explain to me what is bothering you so much.' He said, voice exceptionally soothing as he approached his friend and placed his hands on her shoulders. Hinamori took a couple of moments to cool down, lips pursed and body stiffen with anger.

'Well…First you tell me to shut up.' she finally began, looking down for a moment 'Why did you do that?'

Hitsugaya shot a glare to his sword.

'That wasn't meant to be for you.' He explained 'Hyourinmaru was buzzing in my head and I wanted him to stop it. I swear, Momo, that's what it was.'

_**But you did want to make her stop chattering like a imbecile, no? I just did you a favor, because you didn't have the guts to tell her that yourself. And what are you doing now? Ruining the fruits of my labor! So ungrateful…**_

'And you weren't listening to me, were you?' Hinamori continued, sulking 'You pretended to, but actually were spacing out constantly!'

_**That would be because of your boundlessly enthralling and wonderful personality!**_

'I'm a bit tired these days, that's all. Don't worry about it.' Hitsugaya assured her.

_**Right. Keep lying. It's still a mystery to me why you do it, but, oh, please, continue, it's such a fascinating sight to see you willingly doom yourself… Where's the popcorn?**_

'And!' Hinamori finished, scowling '_She_ is troubling me.'

'Who? Matsumoto? Yes, I understood that, but why do you think she's doing anything wrong?' Toushiro continued patiently.

_**Oh, please… Isn't it perfectly clear?**_

'But she's trying to get to you, Shiro-chan! She's trying to get to you!' Hinamori insisted 'She's with you all the time and she keeps finding ways to touch you and… and…'

_**Boy, can girls be jealous… **_

'That's just the way Matsumoto is!' Hitsugaya said, ignoring his zanpakuto 'Cheerful and likes to hug people and all. And just for the record, she's my lieutenant so it's sort of her duty to be with me most of the time.'

_**Right. Keep telling yourself that. But, OH! Ran and Shiro, sitting on the tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Oh, yeah!**_

_**(Very unwelcomed for Hitsugaya kissing sounds)**_

'Yes, that's _exactly_ how it is.' Hitsugaya emphasized, glancing hatefully at his weapon.

'Is your holiday also a time when you have to be with your fukutaicho?' Hinamori questioned, narrowing her eyes and folding her arms in front of her chest. Hitsugaya felt himself blush.

'Well…'

_**Hell yeah! Don't you know that they can do STUFF together when there is nobody and oh, YOU, around? Oh, yes, they can! So sod off!**_

_**… I asked where my popcorn was!**_

'So what if she invited me to spend some time with her?' He snapped, now taking the role of the one being attacked. Hinamori gave him the I-told-you-so look and shook her head. Hitsugaya's frown deepened.

'You are not acting yourself anymore, do you know that?' she pointed out 'She's changing you. And that's what worries me the most! And… And what's with this stupid head-cloth anyway? Why do you _both_ wear it?' she reached to pull it off, but he pulled back just in time, his eyes widened with horror.

'Don't touch it, Hinamori! I swear, you'll be sorry!' he shouted, hands protectively holding on the sides of the garment as he stepped back. Momo blinked a couple of times with confusion, then narrowed her eyes.

'Oh, don't be such a baby! Give me this ridicules head-cloth!' she insisted making another attempt to catch a hold of it. Fortunately, Hitsugaya was faster and managed to get away in time. However, the refusal he demonstrated, made Hinamori grow irritated, persistent and determined. So that turned into a chase…

…Which Matsumoto followed in attempt to help her captain…

…And which ended up tragically in Orihime's house, where Momo finally jumped on Hitsugaya's back, tackled him to the floor just in front of the door-steps and pulled the head-cloth off…

… Drawn by the noise, everybody popped out of the living-room to see what was going on. And became witnesses to the following scene:

Matsumoto, horrified, stands at the door-steps of the opened door.

Few steps away there's juuban-tai taicho Hitsugaya Toushiro in all his glory, lying face down on the floor and moaning.

Hinamori – the cherry of the picture, is straddling her childhood friend's back and holding his head-cloth with one hand. Her face is, as it seems, one of pure confusion as she stares down at the bright pink mop of spiky hair that presents Hitsugaya's hair.

Wouldn't that be a merry sight!

* * *

I'VE GOT CHICKEN POX, PEOPLE! AT THE AGE OF 15! MERCY ME!... AND REVIEW!


	15. Sweet Dreams

Pause.

Groan from Hitsugaya.

A strange wheezy sound from Zaraki's direction.

Another pause.

Then…

'Oh my…' Ishida murmured, sweatdropping 'This definitely makes me question Hitsugaya-taicho's sexual orientation…'

'He's not a GAY, you moron!' Matsumto yelled in the half-conscious tenth division captain's defense 'Haven't you seen the big amount of perfectly straight guys who dye their hair in the glorious colour of pink nowadays!'

'Uh…' Ishida pulled back a little, double sweatdropping 'Not really… B-but then again, I know nothing about fashion and… uh, pink is a wonderful and aboslutely manly colour.'

Matsumoto glared at him and was about to say something, when the bald member of the group made himself noticed by almost breaking all the glass in the house with his horrified scream:

'WHAT THE FUCK! WHO FLAMINGO-ED OUR POOR HITSUGAYA-TAICHO!' Ikkaku shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes big as saucers.

'OH YAY, SHOOORTYYY!! WE LOOK LIKE SISTERS NOW!' Yachiru chirped, hopping on her captain's broad shoulders. Next to them Kyouraku was oh-so-kindly laughing his head off, while his lieutenant tossed him glares that could burn the flesh of anyone else.

'Stop it!' Nanao hissed through tightly gritted teeth 'Everybody has the right to… change their image.'

Kyouraku calmed down just enough to crack a smile and reply:

'Right, of course, we live in a free country. All people, even boys geniuses with pink hair… are allowed to live carefree and happy here… Among their fellows. Even if not so many…'

'You understand nothing… in originality, taicho.'

'I'm supporting the boy, my dearest! Don't I look extremely supportive to you?'

A vein popped on Nanao's forehead and begun pulsing dangerously, much to Kyouraku's misfortune. He didn't even have the time to attempt to escape as second later she landed her fan on his head mercilessly.

Nearby Ichigo was dealing with an unconscious (from the shock) Yumichika which in other words meant the Strawberry was trying very hard to push the Narcissus' limp and rather heavy body off of his own. Rukia, on the other hand, was trying her best to block Orihime's view of the 'inappropriate sight' by clapping her hand on the taller girl's eyes. In Kuchiki's very strict opinion Inoue so didn't need to see the corrupted scene of Hitsugaya with Momo on top of him for her fragile and innocent mind could be easily traumatized…

'Shiro-chan…' Hinamori mumbled, staring with supreme horror down at her childhood friend 'What have you done? Why are you turning yourself into a girl?'

'I… I'M NOT TRYING TO TURN MISELF INTO A GIRL, DAMMIT!' Hitsugaya groaned, attempting to shove the girl of off him 'It was JUST an accident! Matsumoto-'

In hearing the name, Momo's eyes widened and jumped on her feet pointing her index finger accusingly at the tenth division lieutenant:

'YOU!' Hinamori shouted angrily 'YOU ARE TRYING TO TURN MY SHIRO-CHAN INTO A GIRL!'

'WHAT!' Matsumoto screeched indignantly 'WHAT THE HELL GAVE YOU THAT IDEA!'

'OH! SO YOU ARE DENYING?'

'I'M NOT TRYING TO DO ANYTHING TO TAICHO! WHY WOULD I WANT THAT!'

'HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW, YOU WICKED MINDED WOMAN!?'

'I NEVER PLANNED ON MAKING HIS HAIR LIKE THIS!'

'ALL EVIDENCES POINT TO YOU!'

'WHAT EVIDENCES? TAICHO JUST TOLD YOU IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!'

'HIS MIND IS CORRUPTED! WE CAN'T TRUST HIS WORDS!'

Matsumoto let out a low, angry growl and opened her mouth, ready to yell back something at the annoying non-sense making peach-named imbecile, but was cut off by a much louder and much more terrifying shout, that made everybody cringe and fall silent.

'SHUT THE HELL UP BOTH OF YOU!' Hitsugaya bellowed, eyebrow twitching, shoulders tensely raised and fists clenched as he eyed everybody in the corridor 'And you… GET OUT! OUT! ALL OF YOU! RIGHT NOW! RI- No, Orihime, not you, this is your place… and Matsumoto, you are staying with me… EVERYBODY ELSE, SOD OFF BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO SHINIGAMI ICE-CUBES!'

Pause.

In a second or two, the guests stormed out of the house like a herd of very elegant elephants, terrified by what the consequences might be if they didn't do so. The only person who dared stay behind was Hinamori.

'Shiro-chan…' she began, her face a mixure of shame and worry. Teal eyes, filled with blood-freezing anger met hers and before she had time to say anything, he grabbed his head-cloth from her hands and pointed his index finger at the door.

'Leave.' He ordered quietly. Hinamori hesitated, feeling guilty and somewhat scared by the soft, yet withering way her childhood friend spoke to her.

'I…'

'I said leave!' Hitsugaya replied, this time more firmly. Momo glanced at Matsumoto for a moment, giving her a brief glare, then gazed at Toushiro apologetically before finally exiting the house.

* * *

Later that evening:

'Hey, taicho?' Matsumoto called carefully from her place on the bed, slightly tilting her head to a side to have a look at the boy from another angle. She wasn't sure if starting a conversation was a good idea, but he hadn't said a word ever since the accident, except the apology he murmured to Orihime for ruining her evening and the fact was more or less worrying Rangiku. She could imagine what he felt like. After all, she probably knew him more than everybody else. Hitsugaya Toushiro was a proud young boy, whose whole life was a struggle to prove himself capable for his rank. His age and looks was what made people not take him seriously and it annoyed the prodigy beyond belief. His cold, distanced attitude, the lack of openly exposed emotions, his almost obsessive perfectionism and the fact he pushed himself to work more than an adult would in his place – it was all because of his pride. It was all because of his need to make people take him as equal. Every move he made was well-estimated so it wouldn't show him as anything less than a man, a warrior. And any sort of humiliation was a blow on his pride and already questioned confidence and self-esteem… So no wonder he clung to his good reputation for dear life.

Matsumoto did indeed tend to do pranks on her taicho, not meaning any harm of course, but in situations like this one she felt painfully guilty for everything...

Guilt was SUCH a bitch...

'Yeah, what is it?' Hitsugaya asked softly, continuing to rummage for his toothbrush in his suitcase. With a sigh of relief, Matsumoto noted to herself the edges of his hair were beginning to whiten.

'I wanted to apologize…'

'What for?' the captain turned around to face her and folded his arms in front of his chest, toothbrush sticking out of his right palm 'Or did you plan to make my hair pink on purpose?'

'Noo!' Matsumoto exclaimed immediately 'No, it really was an accident… it's just that…'

'Hm?'

'Well, I got you in so much trouble… and… you and Hinamori had a fight…'

'Nah, don't worry about it.' Hitsugaya cut her off, waving his hand dismissively 'We'll be fine. It's not the first time we have a fight, you know. Even best friends do that...'

_**Besides, it seems like in her opinion the color of the hair defines the sex and isn't that like the best reason to have a fight with someone…**_

'Gods, Hyourinmaru, can't you keep quiet for like… two hours?' Hitsugaya groaned, slapping his forehead as he slowly started to make his way towards the bathroom.

_**As a matter of fact, you should be very grateful that I train my oral muscles. I bet if you didn't tell me to shut up that often, I would be able to crash twice as much things with my jaws!**_

'Ridiculous.'

_**Ridiculous? You're calling exact science RIDICULOUS? Shame on you, young man!**_

'This is not science; this is you, trying to be smart.'

_**My master is so cleaver!**_

'Leave me alone, I want to brush my teeth in peace.'

_**Right. My master needs to concentrate on the glorious act of brushing teeth!**_

Hitsugaya choose just to roll his eyes. Any comment he made threatened to just prolong this very unwanted at the moment conversation with the ice dragon.

* * *

Later…

As Hitsugaya came back into the room from the bathroom, wearing a pair of baggy pants for pyjamas, he spotted Matsumoto already lying on her bed in her purple nightgown. Cracking a grin, she patted the place beside her and when he didn't move from his spot and just gave her a very suspicious look, pouted her lips artistically.

'What's the matter, taicho? Don't you trust me?'

'Do you really want me to answer this question?' Hitsugaya asked slowly.

_**WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TOUSHIRO! MATSUMOTO AND A BED IS THE GREATEST COMBINATION EVER! GOOO! MAKE ME PROUD! MAKE ME PROOOOUUUD! APPLY YOUR GREAT KNOWLADGE OF HOW BABIES ARE BEING MADE RIGHT AWAY! OH, PUH-LEASE!**_

'But taicho!' Matsumoto whined 'Where do you plan on sleeping?'

'The floor.' He retorted simply.

_**NOOO! NOT THE FLOOR, YOU CHASTE LITTLE PUNK! THE BED!**_

'The floor's not very comfortable, now, is it?' she asked, raising a brow.

_**YES! Very Uncomfortable! You'll hurt your back. Go to Rangiku!**_

'Matsumoto, I honestly don't think this is a good idea…' Hitsugaya replied slowly 'I mean, we did share a bed last night, but that was a…'

'Mistake?' Matsumoto raised a brow.

'No… I mean YES! I mean… I-I…'

'Taicho, you are blushing.' Matsumoto informed him seriously.

'W-well… I just think, I mean… Oh, Gods…'

'Is it that unpleasant to sleep next to me? Do I smell bad? Do I feel bad?'

'What! No! You're very pleasant to sleep next to, Matsumoto!' he hurried to assure her. Matsumoto smiled inwardly. He was beginning to mess up already…

'…You smell heavenly and I've never had a better sleep in my life and I…'

**HA!**

Hitsugaya's eyes widened as he realized what he had just said and slapped his forehead.

'You're blushing harder…' Matsumoto giggled. He just growled.

'Don't you think that might be your fault…' he mumbled, shoulders slumping. Matsumoto's giggled sounded again, this time louder as she got out of the bed and made her way towards him.

'So what?' she asked, gently taking his hand and leading him towards the bed. He didn't protest, just sighed with defeat. It wasn't like he could fight it. This was Matsumoto, after all…

'Just… don't undress me.' He mumbled as she turned off the bedside lamp and wrapped a hand around him protectively.

'I'd never do that.' she cooed sweetly in his ear as her hand pulled him closer to her body 'You are the best taicho ever, you always forgive me and I'd everything for you, don't you forget that.'

'Oh, please, we both know…'

'Sweet dreams, taicho.'

He sighed again, ignoring the strange, ticklish feeling in his stomach as she breathed on his bared neck.

'Sweet dreams, Mastmoto. And don't undress me.'

* * *

**A/N:Nothing much happened in this chapter, but I think it was pretty sweet. I'm ok, my chicken pox is gone... I tried not to scratch, as many of you advised me to, many, many, many times, but I don't know, I think I'll have a scar or two on my back. Thanks for everything, for all your support and review!**

**_Ah, and one more thing. Me and two colleagues and friends from my country, known as Five seas and TheArchon have started a Bleach fiction, Bleach II Arrancar. They are both way more talanted than I am and if you like my writing, you're gonna LOVE theirs, so check out the story if you like. :)_**


	16. Sweet awakening

Oh, did _that_ feel good…

(Violins start playing a slow, romantic melody at the background)

'Mmmm…' Matsumoto muffled the soft sound in the pillow, her fingers twitching slightly before her hands tightened their loose grip on the little human form next to her.

Her whole body felt like it had sank in heaven. Every muscle, every nerve had relaxed, embracing the wonderful, enchanting moment, the closeness and the uncommon peace. She hadn't felt so safe for such a long time she had actually forgotten what it was like… She had forgotten how holding a certain person in your arms could make you feel so right, so harmonized with everything around you. And how for just a little while, nothing mattered. Nothing, except for you and that one human being that made you experience that…

Why and how did that happen?

(Violins pausing for more dramatism.)

Matsumoto cracked open an eye lazily, her smile growing even more, before once again letting her lid fall to hide the pale blue iris.

Hitsugaya Toushiro was the reason. And the emotion he created in her heart, mind and soul.

(Go on with the music.)

Matsumoto inhaled deeply with her eyes still closed and buried her nose in the soft tuft of white locks in front of her. His scent… it was such a wonderful, refreshing scent. The very same she had missed so much while he was in Soul Society and she was all alone in the real world.

_The scent of winter…_

It was simply delectable how little things such as the way he smelled, the feeling of the somehow pleasantly low temperature of his skin against her own and his ever so slight movements in unconscious respond to her embrace could make her smile. Could make her happy. What did that little boy do to her? And how come he could do it, without actually being truly aware of his actions…

'Please, tell me my hair isn't pink anymore…' she heard him mumble sleepily. That made her open her eyes and raise a bit above him to look at his face through ever so slightly raised eyelids.

'It's alright, taicho, don't worry about it…'

'Thank god…' he let out a small sigh of relief 'If it hadn't, I would've been forced to freeze you to death…'

Matsumoto laughed sarcastically, shaking her head.

'C'mon taicho, we both know you're too kind and sweet to do something like that.'

'I ain't sweet.' He protested, his eyebrows twitching with the first signs of annoyance for the day. In respond she began poking his shoulder in what seemed to be strange attempt to prove him wrong.

'Yes, you are.'

'No, I'm not!' It would be so nice if she quitted poking him.

'Yes, you are! If you weren't, you wouldn't have agreed!'

'Agreed to what?'

'Sleep with me.'

'Argh, Matsumoto, you make it sound as if…'

'As if what?'

'…'

'Well?'

'Nothing.' Hitsugaya blushed, sitting up 'And quit poking me.'

_**Rangiku makes it sound like you've had **__**sexual intercourse with**__** her, isn't that so? **_Came Hyourinmaru's expert answer. Hitsugaya wisely chose to ignore it and slowly cracked his neck.

'What time is it?' he asked, absently running a hand over his sleepy eyes. Eyeing him up and down, Matsumoto giggled under her breath, then wrapped a hand around his shoulders and pulled him towards her, her chin landing softly next to his pale cheek.

'We have plenty of sunlight to do something fun today…' She cooed, intentionally positioning her head so her hot breath landed on the area around his ear and tickled the sensitive flesh. Immediately his skin began to heat and his body tensed, before he pulled away gently, eyes drifting from side to side nervously.

'Yeah… I mean ok. I know. Sure. I'm alright with that. Ahem. Where do you… Where do you want to go?'

Matsumoto grinned happily and opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a strange sound coming from downstairs.

'What's that?' Hitsugaya asked, raising a brow as the sound of two different voices he was positive he knew reached his ears. One of them most definitely belonged to Orihime. The other one, however, the one of someone who had just come in and was climbing the stairs …

His eyes widened.

'Um… taicho?' Rangiku began slowly, her eyebrows locked into a suspicious manner 'Is it just me or is that…?'

The door burst open, followed just seconds later by a terrible high-pitched scream that made both of them cringe and make painful faces.

'SHIRO-CHAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN ONE BED WITH THAT WOMAN!'

Matsumoto let out a soft 'woops' along with a nervous laugh as she watched her taicho's childhood friend point an accusing and rather trembling finger at both of them. Well, wasn't that a nice situation… Momo's face was rapidly becoming red, her lips tightly pursed and her eyes were wide as saucers. She resembled a funny vegetable that was about to explode in the microwave oven any minute now.

'Calm down, Momo. This isn't what it looks like. The thing is…' Hitsugaya began, but instead of listening to his soothing voice as any reasonable creature would, Hinamori just let out another hysterical scream, her hands shooting up to cover her ears.

'SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!' she was shaking her head frantically, her eyes tightly squeezed. Behind her back Orihime sweatdropped, then turned around on her heel and dashed away from the havoc as fast as her feet could carry her. Rangiku just sighed. She wished greatly she could do the same thing…

'Okay… I shut up.' Hitsugaya agreed quietly and as Matsumoto leaned a bit forward to take a curious look at his face, she noted to herself the edges of his lips were tingling with held back amusement.

'I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SHIRO-CHAN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU LET THAT…' Momo opened her eyes and glared at Matsumoto, obviously musing over what the most offensive name for such a criminal was '…_SNAKE _TRICK YOU IN SUCH MANNER! YOU LET HER CORRUPT YOUR MIND AND THEN CORRUPT YOUR BODY, _SUDUCE YOU_ AND …'

'Hold on… I let her do what?' Hitsugaya was by this point already half-smiling, his eyebrows raised with growing amusement.

'DON'T YOU MAKE FUN OF ME!' Hinamori screeched, hands falling by her sides and clenching into fists as she glared at her childhood friend 'LOOK AT YOU! HOW COULD YOU BED WITH A WOMAN LIKE _HER_!'

'As a matter of fact, I don't think Matsumoto is a bad person at all. She's sweet, kind and has a big heart. And she is capable of making me laugh and have fun.' Hitsugaya protested calmly 'I strongly doubt there's anything wrong with her personality and thus calling her 'woman like her' is far from proper. She has a name she most certainly deserves to be addressed with.'

'Thanks, taicho…' Matsumoto murmured with delighted astonishment. He glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled warmly.

'You're welcome.'

'SHIRO-CHAN! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! SHE BRAIN-WASHED YOU!'

'Um…'

'YOU'RE LIKE A BRAINLESS ZOMBIE NOW! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!'

'Do I look like some sort of doctor Frankenstein to you? Cuz, honestly, I think Mayuri suits the role a lot better!' Matsumoto replied, frowning. In respond, Hinamori shot her a lethal glare, before turning to Hitsugaya.

'I'm leaving!' she announced angrily, then turned on her heel dramatically slowly and stormed down the corridor, her footsteps intentionally louder than usually.

Hitsugaya let out a heavy sigh, before rolling his eyes and laying back on the bed, his eyelids lowering lazily. Matusmoto gave him a puzzled look, quite surprised by his uncommonly careless behavior towards his so-called soft spot – Hinamori – and leaned over him, her hair dripping down next to his face like a soft waterfall of reddish silk.

'Aren't you running after her, taicho?' she asked softly, reaching to pull some strands of hair behind her ear as she raised a brow quizzically 'You should explain to her that nothing actually happened…'

Hitsugaya just let out a low exhausted groan, followed shortly after by an amused chuckle.

'I'm going to tell you exactly what is about to happen if I choose to follow Hinamori now.' He began lazily 'First, I'd run after her, yelling at her to stop and listen to me, I'd beg for her to be reasonable, to just give me a chance to explain and after a really long time and lots of wrecked nerves from my side, her stubbornness would eventually wear out, she'd be so kind and well-disposed to cease her march. She'd fold her arms and give me an impatient look, while I'd hurry to apologize, explain everything and after quite some time she'd FINALLY be convinced to forgive me.' He sighed and stretched slowly like a cat, a few soft cracks following that action of his 'But instead of wasting my time on that… Yes, I've reached to the conclusion it's a waste of time at last… I'll just lie here and listen to your proffers of to what to do today.'

He winked at her and smirked, his hands raising and shoving under his head for more comfort.

'So, Matsumoto, what do you have in mind?'

* * *

After the few disturbing exclamations he overheard from several passing woman and which painfully sounded like 'OH MY GOD! LOOK, WHAT A CUTE LITTLE KID!', Hitsugaya had to admit inwardly that maybe going to the mall with Matsumoto wasn't such a good idea after all. He definitely didn't like how the shop-assistants treated him as if he was an imbecile or something – especially the one that came out of his shop and attempted to drag the taicho inside, assuring him that was the best store for young children there ever was. And just as he thought it couldn't get any worse, an absurd-looking clown ran to him and tried to attract his attention with pathetic tricks with balloons and such, while also shoving some visiting card in his hands and almost yelling at him to tell his mom about Jumbo The Clown…

'Don't worry, taicho!' Matsumoto patted him on the shoulder, smiling encouragingly down at his grumpy face 'You'll grow up. I'm sure of it.'

'You're my fukutaicho. It's sort of an obligation for you to tell me what I want to hear.' He scoffed, frown impossibly deep as he glared at some little boy that attempted to approach him, most probably with friendly purposes and who ran away with a scream when he saw the blood-freezing look.

'That's not true, taicho.' Matsumoto objected, wrapping an arm around his shoulders 'I've hardly said anything bad about Gin, though I know you hate him.'

Hitsugaya slowly redirected his glare to her.

'Besides…' she hurried to add 'I don't mind your height. I like you the way you are.'

'Hmph!'

'Will you please stop glaring now? You're frightening the people…'

Hitsugaya's face softened with what seemed to be temporary defeat and his tensed up shoulders relaxed.

'Good taicho!' she chirped 'Now let's go see the jewellery and then have some ice cream!'

Hitsugaya puffed and rolled his eyes, but allowed her to drag him by the hand into a large store just next to the mall itself where the amount of customers was a serious competition to the jewels themselves. There were fat women with tons of make-up, already looking like Christmas trees because of the impossible amount of gold and gems on them who were fiddling between their obese fingers brooches and bracelets. There were young girls, skinny as hell with their popped out eyes and haughtily pursed lips scanning the objects beyond the glass. There were guys, sweating as pigs as they forced their minds to work on the problem of what to buy for their better halves in sign of love or even apology. There were old men, dressed in expensive clothes and with sunglasses of fines quality, looking for something large and shiny for their insanely young girlfriends. And there were other people. All different and with different purposes, all looking thoroughly stupid in Hitsugaya's eyes. And the worst part was that his lieutenant was just about to become part of this mess…

'TAICHO!' Rangiku screamed with enthusiasm, hopping energetically on one place as she pointed her finger at an exquisitely elaborated necklace of silver with a small ruby, surrounded by sapphires on it 'I have to try this on!'

'Huh? What are you... aah!!' Toushiro was yet again grabbed by the arm and dragged towards the needed destination. He didn't even have enough time to realize what was going on when he discovered that he was already being persistently asked of his opinion, while Matsumoto almost shoved his face in her chest, claiming she was showing him how the necklace looked on her.

'Isn't it pretty? Isn't it??' she exclaimed, next to her the shop assistant suppressing a giggle at Hitsugaya's flushed face.

'I-I… I don't know… I guess it does.' He murmured, trying to pull away from her iron grip.

'Imagine how everybody in Sereitei will envy me, when they see me with this baby!' she chirped, grinning down at the necklace.

'Well, I don't know, I honestly don't understand much in those kind of stuff. I…'

CLICK!

'EVERYBODY ON THE FLOOR! THIS IS A ROBBERY!' someone shouted behind them and Hitsugaya let a soft exhausted sigh escape his lips…

* * *

**_A/N: Well, it wasn't all that great as a chappie, I've done better but GOOD NEWS! This story is coming to an end soon! well, not really sure when exactly, but I have it all right here (points at her head). Well, not so soon however, for I'm going to my grandma's until the end of August. I may have no Internet connection there. I may have one, too, but it's like 50 sure. Ok?Ok._**

**_Oh! And I'd love to write another humour/romance fic, so if you have any suggestions, preferences, I'd love to hear them. Well, ta-ta for now! _**


	17. Hostage

**_A/N: Wow, long time no see. I didn't have Internet connection at my grandma's, so that's supposed to explain my delay. What you're about to read now is the 17th chapter of this fic and it might be the last one or the one before the last one. It's up to you. And btw, I fixed that bad habit of mine with the apostrophe. I think you know what I'm talking about. _**

**_Sorry for not replying to all your reviews, but when I came back from my grandma's I had 115 messages. You can tell it took me awhile to check them all._**

**_There was this review by... hm, _**VampireCabbit _**wrote it and I think I should answer. I ask you from the start to read this whole thing and understand that this it;s not meant to be an offend. Yes, I very much dislike Momo, mostly because she's naive, weak as personality and denies true when it's right. under. her. nose. I believe you used the words "slightly gullible" and I must admit I don't agree with the "slight" part. And that's why so many people aren't fond of her, I think. In my case, she's too different from me. I've discovered I can't get along with people that are my complete opposite, even if they are not real. They just annoy me. Of course, I understand she's OOC in this story. Actually, most characters in the story are, I guess that's why it's a fanfiction and not part of the real thing. It ain't a lazy way of knocking off potentional love interests, I don't force the actual pairing together, as a matter of fact this fic isn't as romantic as it's supposed to be. It's just how I imagine things. Yes, I know that it's probably ruining the story some, but I can't force myself to write it in another way. People do say that you don't write a story, it writes itself and that's how I feel it. Maybe I haven't grown up enough to do it otherwise, maybe I never will, but if it were my story, if it weren't Bleach and I wrote about these character, I'd create the story like this without a blink of an eye and nobody would question it. Unfortunately Bleach doesn't belong to me. However, as every other story, people have a different view on the things and my view is this view. They write it the way they see it, I write it the way I see it. I write it for me mostly, I write it because I have the need to write it and that's that. This you might take as denial of an obvious criticism, but it's not. I just thought I should explain why I do what I do. **_

**_One more thing, I'd be more than happy if the readers of Feel The Beat, my other story, left a review or something, cuz I didn't get much for my latest chapter which leaves me more than hesitant if I did well with it._**

He couldn't just go out and have fun, could he? He simple couldn't enjoy the little things in the life like going for a walk in the park, going to the movies or enjoy a beautiful but completely insane woman's company. Why? Because he just HAD to have this oh-so-splendid luck. For example this situation: to be in the middle of a jewellery while it was being robbed. He didn't even want to go on and interfere as he usually would do. Honestly! His nobility had worn out during this holiday and it was going to take some time until it recovered. He wasn't a police officer and this wasn't his job. So why not just stay there and do as the criminals ordered like any normal human being would do? What could _possibly_ go _so_ wrong if he didn't get into his superman mode?

_Click!_

He just had to go and ask…

Hitsugaya felt something rest against the back of his head.

"If you don't cooperate, I'll shoot the kid! So move it!"

_Oh, just lovely!_

Maybe he should've been just a tiny bit faster with the getting on the floor part…

_**YOU'RE TAKEN HOSTIGE! OH MY GOD! I'M SO EXCITED! OH MY GOD! WAIT UNTIL I TELL THE OTHERS! OH MY GOD! IT'S LIKE ONE OF THOSE AMERICAN MOVIES!**_

"Shut up, Hyourinmaru." Hitsugaya murmured, crossing his arms in front of his chest wearily as the masked man with the gun pointing at the young taicho's head continued ordering the shop assistants around. Very effectively, one might add. Because for just a few minutes, all the valuable objects in the store had been put in a bag along with all the money that was in the cash-boxes.

Hitsugaya sighed tiredly and looked around to examine the situation. All the customers were on the floor, face down, trembling and whining quietly. A few more masked men with guns stood in different parts of the store, watching over those people in case some of them decided all of a sudden to become hero. The robber behind the boy however seemed to be the boss for he was the only one speaking, or rather shouting at the other robbers and overall the people in the jewellery. And of course, Matsumoto was just about two and a half meters away from Toushiro, also sprawled across the tiles, her eyes however focused on her captain and her beautifully curved eyebrows cocked into a half-bored, half-expectant manner.

_What?!_

He glared at her.

What did she want anyway? Because no matter what she was thinking, he was obviously not going to do anything about the robbery, no matter what look she gave him. He was sooo sick and tired of doing noble stuff and getting absolutely no gratitude, nor respect for his efforts. Besides, this was supposed to be a holiday and holiday meant rest. Which referred to no fighting, fun, no fighting, piece and quiet, no fighting, normality and no fighting! And so far he couldn't say that his so called vacation fulfilled those conditions. As a matter of fact, it was _**so**_ the other way around…

Hitsugaya puffed and twisted his lips to a side with irritation.

_Maybe I should've just stayed in Seireitei…_

He was brought roughly back to reality as the robber behind him pressed the gun harder against his skull, making his head bend forward. He let out a soft growl of discomfort mixed with a hint of irritation. What was this guy's problem? He was being such a patient and obedient hostage. What more could one criminal want?

"We're taking the kid." He announced to the other robbers "The police might cause us some trouble so having a citizen with us can turn out quite useful."

It was then that Hitsugaya realized that the robbers had stopped guarding the people on the floor and were ready to go with their spoil. And with him as well, according to their boss' words.

Annoyance immediately surfaced on the boy's face as his eyebrow began twitching. He had absolutely no intention in going anywhere whatsoever. This was as far as he was going to go with this and that was that.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that's impossible." Hitsugaya said, making the robber's eyebrows raise underneath his mask with obvious amusement.

"This ain't up to you, kiddo." He pointed out derisively.

_Kiddo?!_

Matsumoto couldn't suppress a giggle as she noticed the expression on her taicho's face. He looked like he was going to explode any second now, his body tensed and slightly shaking from barely held back anger. Expectedly, the temperature in the store dropped drastically in just a few seconds.

"I think the air-conditioner broke down or something." One of the robbers pointed out. Matsumoto smirked to herself.

_Actually, the air conditioner causing the trouble is just about to have a really nasty anger outburst…_

Suddenly she felt a hand around her neck and before she had time to react, she was pulled to her feet by someone and a gun was pressed between her shoulder blades.

"Hey, boss" the guy behind her barked "The pretty lady here seems to have a nice necklace..."

Matsumoto blinked with confusion, not really understanding what he was talking about until she looked down and spotted the jewel that she had been trying on before the robbers had taken over the shop.

_OOOH! __**This**__ shiny thingy!_

The boss of the robbers glanced at his watch and frowned.

"We don't have time. Drag her along."

Pause.

"WHAT!?" Hitsugaya and Matsumoto shouted in unison.

"Oh, don't worry" the robber said, pulling his hand with the gun away from Toushiro's skull "You're coming too."

The boy opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by an unexpected pain in the back of his head and everything went black.

When Hitsugaya woke up with a groan, not too long after that, several realizations rushed through his mind that only fueled his annoyance. His hands were tied up on his back, he had a blindfold that kept him in pure darkness and last, but not least, he could tell he was at the back of something like a microbus with his back against one of the walls, being driven somewhere against his will. He could tell by the noise he was been kept company by the criminals' spoil.

And _GODS_ did his head hurt like hell!

"This is ridiculous!" he murmured to himself as he began pulling at the ropes around his wrists, attempting to loosen them "How many captains go on vacations and end up hostages in a stupid vehicle?"

_**You'd be the first.**_

"Exactly! Absolutely NO respect!"

_**Yup. None of it.**_

"And anyway, who do these idiots think they are?! How dare they drag me anywhere against my will?"

_**I honestly don't know. But something tells me they think they are robbers…**_

"Shut it. I need concentration here." With that Hitsugaya continued tugging on the tightly tied up ropes, occasionally cursing as the microbus passed through a pot-hole in the asphalt and made him jump.

A groan sounded in the back of the microbus that made Hitsugaya's ears perk up. He could approximately identify where the sound came from, but the blindfold kept him from being absolutely positive about it. Series of weird dull sounds which most likely referred to movements made by someone filled the air and made Toushiro raise both brows quizzically.

"Erm, Matsumoto…?" he called carefully "Is that you?"

The noises stopped.

"Taicho…? You're here? ...Oooh, my heaaad… I can't believe that idiot hit me…"

"You'll live. We have bigger problems now. Are you tied up?"

"I'm afraid so… And I have a blindfold."

"Try freeing yourself."

A minute or so of fruitless attempts later both of them reached to the oh-so-cheerful conclusion they couldn't loosen the ropes and decided to change the tactic.

"I'd be easier if I could see…" Matsumoto pointed out gloomily "Taicho?"

"Hm?"

"Can you remove my blindfold?"

Hitsugaya let out a rather loud snort and shook his head, remembering just a little bit later she most certainly couldn't observe that action of his.

"And how do you suggest I do that?" He questioned.

"Simple. Use your mouth." Matsumoto chirped, catching him completely off guard. The boy fell silent for a couple of moments, weighting his options. The fact he couldn't see was definitely holding him back from finding a way to free himself. If he could rid his fukutaicho of the material that was blocking her view, she could do the same for him and discovering a way out was going to be so much easier afterwards. He wasn't dying to crawl to Matsumoto and search for the blindfold on her face to remove it with his teeth while under the great risk of accidentally biting her, but if that was going to speed things up, then…

…he sighed…

"Fine. Talk, I'll follow your voice." He grunted and though he couldn't see her, he was sure she had grinned at that.

A minute or so later he was already 99 sure he was kneeling in front of her and thus quite a little was left to do. Yet, it was the hardest part.

"Good, taicho. I think you did well so far. Get closer now. You need to remove a blindfold from my eyes, remember?"

"Yes, I remember…" Hitsugaya snorted, crawling even closer. He was feeling somewhat stupid in this position, balancing without his hands to help and of course, without being able to see. He didn't even want to remember how he had ended up that way…

_Ok, here it goes… take a deep breath…_

Slowly, he leaned forward, all the while straining all his senses to make sure he was heading the right way. Hearing her voice, he could tell her face was without a doubt in front of him. But where were the eyes? He halted, musing. Slowly he moved a bit forward, trying to indicate where her breathing felt hotter against the flesh of his face so he could tell where her mouth was and aim higher from it.

Suddenly, the microbus passed over a pot-hole, crushing his balance and sending him forward against his will. He didn't even have time to growl as he fell over his fukutaicho and found his lips pressed against something soft. For what seemed less than a second, he was engulfed by Matsumoto's sweet scent, her warmth and the feeling of her body against his.

_**Wow… this ain't the right moment guys… I'm totally agreeing with this stuff, but not now.**_

_What stuff…?_

He pulled away slightly.

"I'm sorry, I didin't…" he didn't have the chance to finish as he once more felt the soft thing of just a moment ago pressed against his lips. And this time, it moved.

_Oh… my… God… Am I..?_

_No, it couldn't be. She's not… She's not really…_

_…kissing me?_

_And I'm not really kissing her back, right? Nope. No, I'm not. No, this isn't happening. This is a dream, this is not real, this…_

_…feels sooo good…_

It felt like hours when he finally pulled away, panting softly. A giggle sounded underneath him.

"Not bad taicho. But you need some training, that's for sure."

Hitsugaya felt his face heat and the words he wanted to say simply vanished from his mind, leaving him puzzled, timid but somewhat pleased.

"But this isn't the right moment." Matsumoto added "We have criminals to take care of. So will you please go back to removing this blindfold? I believe it'd be easer for you to locate my eyes now that you know where my lips are…"

Next day…

"…_The police succeeded in discovering the robbers' location and as they burst in the old warehouse, they were more than shocked to find their job was done and the criminals were all neutralized and mostly unconscious…"_ Orihime read, glancing at Hitsugaya and Matsumoto over the edge of the morning newspaper "Did the police see you?"

"Not really." Rangiku pointed out, pulling a bottle of milk from the fridge "We were gone before they did. But they are probably wondering where the hostages had disappeared… Would you like some milk, Toushiro?"

"No, thank you." Hitsugaya replied, taking the newspaper from Orihime and scanning it "I'd rather have tea."

Orihime raised a brow, her eyes shifting from Rangiku to Toushiro and back. Since when did the captain allow her to call him by his first name...?

"Is there something I've missed…?" Inoue asked slowly.

"No." the other two answered in unison.

* * *

**_A/N: Once again, it's up to you if this is going to be the last chapter, your choice. And please review._**


	18. The End

**_A/N: This is like, the last chapter and almost nothing happens in it. MAybe I'll write a sequel later, I'll think about it, if u really want me to, but so far this is it. I'll probably write some other new story if I don't write a sequel, so if you want to give it a try, please add me to your Author Alert, if you already haven't. _**

"OK! Where's Hitsugaya-taicho!" Ikkaku inquired, rushing inside the house and looking around for a trace of the boy-genius in questions, right after Orihime made the mistake of letting him in.

"Um, Ikkaku-san..?" the girl gave him a quizzical look and put her hands on her hips "Are you sure Hitsugaya-taicho would be happy to see you after that evening?"

Pause. Ikkaku mused for a second, then cleared his throat and stood in the most solemn posture he could master.

"I realized pink-haired people are no different from me and you and I am ready to accept Hitsugaya-taicho's new looks." He announced. Orihime let her hands drop by her sides and giggled gently.

"His hair was an accident, Ikkaku-san." She told him with the trademark of a friendly smile she was famous with "He's all the same now."

Ikkaku exhaled slowly, his shoulders slumping with relief.

"Good. I didn't know how I would deal with pink tufts of hair popping out of nowhere all the time in Seireitei."

"So why do you need Hitsugaya-taicho anyway?" Orihime asked, tilting her head slightly to a side as she scanned the bald guy up and down. Ikkaku cracked a sheepish smile, reaching to rub the back of his head with his hand.

"Weeeeeell… It's… uh, you know, personal."

"Personal?"

"Um, y-yeah, that's what I said."

Orihime raised a brow giving him a suspicious look.

"You're not going to leave the guy alone, are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, reaaaally…"

Pause.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT SUMMER IS SO DAMN HOT!!" Ikkaku groaned, slumping even more with a slightly guilty childish expression across his face. Orihime sighed, eyeing him with just a little bit of pity.

"C'mon, you're exaggerating. You've simply got it into your head that you can't stand that pretty shiny summer sun and…"

"I'm not exaggerating. If I had hair, it'd have set on fire long ago." He whined, walking into the living room and sitting down with an exhausted exhale "You just don't feel it thanks to Hitsugaya-taicho's ice reitsu. If I'm correct, even when he goes out, its influence keeps its effect over the house for quite some time. But if you look outside you'll see that there's not a single person on the street."

Orihime glanced out for the window only to see an empty, deserted view reveal in front of her.

"Ok, you're right about that but don't you think Hitsugaya-taicho does deserve to have a bit of a shinigami-free time after working so hard without a rest for such a long period of time?" she asked, tilting her head to a side.

Ikkaku gave her a quizzical, confused look, staying completely silent at that illustration and showing no signs of understanding her point. She let out an exhausted sigh.

"Right…"

"So… where's Hitsugaya-taicho after all?"

Orihime seated herself down opposite of him.

"He went out with Rangiku-chan some time ago. They should be back any moment now."

Ikkaku scratched the back of his head, then leaned back some, supporting himself on his hands.

"Do you think something's going on between those two..?" he questioned slowly "Because I have this funny feeling that…"

"No, I don't think so." Orihime cut him off, lifting her hand to examine her fingernails.

"But Momo…"

"Overreacting."

"Hitsugaya's weird behavior?"

"Irrelevant."

"I can't agree."

"I'm living in the same house as those two, don't you think if there was something between them, I'd be the first to know?" Orihime asked, giving him an innocent girlish glance under her beautifully arched brows. In respond the man just blinked, hesitant in what exactly he was supposed to say, then shrugged, murmuring something inarticulate.

Orihime smiled a little to herself. Of course if the taicho-fukutaicho relationship between Hitsugaya and Matsumoto changed in any way, she'd be the first to know. Actually – the _presumably_ taicho-fukutaicho relationship, since it never really existed when it came to those two. She couldn't remember a time when he'd treat Rangiku in any way that showed she was anything less than a very close friend or even something more to him. He would, of course, be the Captain when the situation inquired it, but never, in any way, he'd misuse his authority over her. And when it came to Matsumoto – neglecting her lack of desire to do the paperwork, she'd take care of her taicho. She'd make tea for him, talk him into having a rest when he refused to but needed it badly, make those tiny gestures of attention that brought those rare smiles to his thin lips.

Overall, Orihime believed there had always been sparks flying… along with some objects and snowballs sometimes maybe…

But she wasn't the one to talk about other people's personal deals. When they were ready, they'd share with the others. It seemed like so far they preferred to keep it for themselves. And who was she to judge? Matsumoto was one of her best friends, so close and understandable to her, and as to Toushiro – she had nothing but good to say about him. So she'd respect their choice and help them keep their newly-born affair to themselves as much as they liked… or as much as they could, for Soul Society was such a tattler-breeding farm…

Her thoughts were suddenly cut off when someone knocked on the door, making Ikkaku immediately jump on his feet with such a happy, uncontrollable enthusiasm, that Orihime almost fell backwards, startled to death by the outburst.

"It's them! I can feel their reiatsu! It's them!" he chirped, helping the girl up with more impatience than gallantry behind the action. Before Orihime had time to thank him and head towards the door, he had already started dragging her pretty forcefully towards it, much to her displeasure.

"Ok, ok, I got it, let go…"

As Orihime finally got to answer the door, she found herself facing a box on her eyelevel.

"Did she answer the door? I can't see." The box asked, swaying a bit from side to side for some unknown reason. A small "hm" was heard somewhere from behind it, then Matsumoto peeked over it and grinned at Orihime.

"Yup. Go."

Hitsugaya entered, carrying the box and headed to the living-room, lead mostly by his memories of where it was. As he placed his baggage on the floor, he cracked a few bones and turned around, facing Ikakku without a trace of surprise in his voice.

"Good. You're here." He said flatly "I bet the heat chased you, right?"

"Hitsugaya-taicho!" Madarame gathered the palms of his hands together in a pleading manner "We REALLY need you right now and if you just--"

"Don't worry, your prayers have been heard." The young Captain cut him of, raising his hand to make the other silent "Me and Ra-… er… Matsumoto had a bit of a chat and we decided maybe I was too harsh with you…"

"HITSUGAYA-TAICHO! YOU'RE MERCY KNOWS NO BONDERIES! EVERYBODY WILL…"

"I know!" Toushiro cut him off again, impatient "Let me finish! We decided we'll think of a solution for your "heat" problem and then you can leave us alone so we can have a real holiday."

Pause.

"And?" Ikakku urged "You're gonna share half of the day with us…?"

"No!" Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and gestured towards the box in his feet "We bought you and air-conditioner."

4minutes later:

"Have a nice holiday!" Ikkaku shouted as he walked away from the house with the box in his hands and a happy grin on his face. The two heads of the tenth division waved him goodbye until he was gone from their sight. Then they closed the door and let out a sigh of relief.

"Mission completed." Matsumoto announced, looking down at him with a small smile "It's just me and you now…"

"And Orihime." Hitsugaya reminded, glancing at the girl in question, who was already heading towards the kitchen, leaving them all alone (obviously on purpose, considering the sly smirk on her lips) "But the main buggers are all gone. I hope. At least until they break the air-conditioner and need a new one."

Rangiku took his hand, giggling and gently tugged him towards the staircase.

"Let's go to our room." She offered, nodding in the needed direction.

"What are we going to do there…?" Hitsugaya asked rather stupidly, making his girlfriend laugh full-heartedly at the question.

"Just some fun for two. You've come to rest here, right?" she cooed, making a slow blush spread across his cheeks as he started to follow her lead.

"I guess so."

"When we go back to Soul Society, it'll be pretty hard to be together for too long without people noticing. So let's use the time we have now fully."

"Right. Oh! And Matsumoto?"

"Yeah?"

"You do know you'll have to do the paperwork for a month as you promised me you would when you talked me into coming here, right?"

**_The End (maybe)!_**

**_It's been pleasure to write this and I'm very thankful for all of you and the attention you gave me. Especially to those who reviewed. I'd appreciate your final opinion, of course. And one other thing I'd ask you as a friend:_**

**_Imagine you have a relationship with a person you have really strong feelings for, but as the time goes, you feel like you need to do something to refresh it. And you need it badly. It might be a good place to go to on a date, or something like that. Please, give me an advice. I'd appriciate if you're precise and not answer with things like "Do something nice for them" or "Take them somewhere romantic". Thank you._**

**_And another thing, some kissing tips, pretty please? French kiss is the thing I need really badly to know about. Precision would be appreciated. Thank you._**


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